Scandent shrub up to 15 m high, often with many stems arising from a common base, a non-climbing shrub or occasionally a tree up to 10 m high, crown often slightly rounded in arborescent forms; trunk to 0,5 m diam. Bark pale to dark yellowish- or grey-brown, rough, slightly fissured, sometimes flaking; young branchlets pale yellowish- or grey- to reddish-brown, sparingly to densely pubescent, indumentum frequently slightly golden. Stipules not spinescent, in pairs above the nodes, obliquely ovate (rarely almost linear), up to 12 x 7 mm, soon deciduous. Prickles scattered along the internodes, usually strongly recurved, reddish-brown to purplish, often broad-based, up to 15 mm long. Leaves: petiole (0,4)1-2(3,4) cm long, adaxial gland usually present (sometimes two), variable in position, usually stalked, up to 2 mm high; rhachis (2,3)6-12(16,5) cm long, sparingly to densely pubescent, rarely subglabrous, with or without recurved prickles abaxially, a gland often present at the junction of the top pair of pinna only or between the top 1-5 and occasionally the lowest 1-3 pairs; pinnae (6)8-20(29) pairs; rhachillae (0,9)2,6-4,2(7,3) cm long; leaf­lets 19-62 pairs per pinna, 2-6,9 X 0,5-1,3 mm, linear to linear-oblong, often slightly falcate, apex obtuse to acute, margins with or without ciliate hairs, glabrous abaxially or appressed-pubescent with a tendency for an apical and/or basal tuft. Inflorescences spicate, fascicled or crowded into an irregular terminal raceme, occasionally solitary. Flowers yellowish-white, pedicellate or appearing sessile; spikes 2,2-11,5 cm long; peduncles 0,3-2,5 cm long, sparingly to densely pubescent. Calyx cupular, glabrous to sparingly pubescent, usually 1/3-1/2 as long as corolla, tube 0,6-1,7 mm long, lobes 0,2-0,6 mm long. Corolla campanulate, glabrous to sparingly pubescent, tube 1,4-2,2 mm long, lobes up to 0,8 mm long. Stamen-filaments free, up to 6 mm long; anthers 0,15 mm across, with a deciduous apical gland. Ovary densely pubescent, 0,6-1,4 mm long, on a stipe longer than itself. Pods reddish- or purplish-brown, 5,3-20,4 x 0,9-2,4 cm, linear-oblong, straight, very acuminate at both ends or merely acute, longitudinally dehiscent, brittle, umbonate over the seeds, glabrous or subglabrous. Seeds olive-brown, subcircular-lenticular, 6-9 mm in diam., compressed; areole central, small, 2,5-3 mm in diam., obscure.