Tree to 13 m high with a rounded, flattened and somewhat spreading or irreguÂlarly open crown. Bark yellowish- or grey-to reddish-brown or blackish, rough, irreguÂlarly fissured; young branchlets grey- to reddish-brown or purplish, glabrous or occasionally sparingly pubescent. Stipules not spinescent, in pairs, ±linear, 1-3,5 x 0,3-0,6 mm, glabrous, soon deciduous. Prickles in pairs below the nodes, strongly recurved, often broad-based, greyish-brown to blackish, up to 9 mm long. Leaves: petiole 0,6-1,9(2,4) cm long, adaxial gland usually present, variable in position, 0,3-0,8 x 0,2-0,5 mm; rhachis (0,9)1,2-4,1(5,8) cm long, glabrous or occasionally sparingly pubescent, eglandular or with a gland at the junction of the top pinna pair; pinnae 3-5 pairs; rhachillae 0,7-2,3(3,4) cm long, glabrous or occasionally sparingly pubescent, usually with a small gland at the junction of the top few leaflet pairs or sometimes each leaflet pair; leaflets 3-9 pairs per pinna, 5-9,5 x 2,5-5 mm, elliptic or broadly elliptic, sometimes somewhat ovate, apex rounded and often slightly emarginate, nearly symmetrical basally, glabrous, veins rather prominent beneath. Inflorescences spicate, fascicled or solitary. Flowers yellowish-white, sessile or almost so; spikes 2,6-5,6 cm long; peduncles 0,5-1,2 cm long, glabrous or occasionally sparingly pubescent. Calyx sometimes tinged with pink, glabrous, tube 0,9-1,4 mm long, lobes up to 0,9 mm long. Corolla glabrous or occasionally with few glandular hairs, tube 1,6-2,3 mm long, lobes up to 1,1 mm long. Stamen-filaments free, up to 5,5 mm long; anthers ± 0,15 mm across, with a deciduous apical gland. Ovary to 1,3 mm long, glabrous, stipitate. Pods grey- to reddish-brown, 5,2-12,2(16,6) x 1,4-2 cm, straight, linear-oblong, rounded to ± acuminate apically, longitudinally dehiÂscent, coriaceous, venose, glabrous. Seeds olive- to reddish-brown, 7-13 x 7-13,5 mm, irregularly subcircular, compressed; central areole 4-8 x 4-9 mm, horse-shoe shaped.
