Shrub with several erect slender branches which tend to droop apically or a slender tree to 8 m high with whip-like branches. Bark yel­lowish to reddish-brown or purplish; young branchlets whitish or grey- to reddish-brown or purplish, sometimes as though white­washed over a purplish background, glabrous or subglabrous, with numerous somewhat transversely elongated lenticels. Stipules not spinescent, in pairs, linear, 1,8-3 mm long, 0,2-0,6 mm wide, soon deciduous. Prickles in pairs near each node or often absent, spreading laterally, straightish or slightly recurved, up to 4,5 mm long, reddish-brown to purplish-black. Leaves: petiole (0,1)0,5-1(1,2) cm long, glabrous or subglabrous; rhachis 0-1,2 cm long, glabrous, a gland at the junction of each pinna pair; pinnae 1 or 2 pairs; rhachillae 1,2-3,5(4,4) cm long, glabrous; leaflets 6-13 pairs per pinna, 4-13,5 x 1,2-3,5 mm, oblong or obovate-oblong, often slightly to strongly falcate, apex rounded, veins usually fairly conspicuous beneath, completely glabrous. Inflorescences spicate, solitary or fascicled. Flowers yel­lowish-whit