Spiny deciduous shrub 2–3 m. tall; bark grey or greyish-brown, pruinose, irregularly flaking off in small pieces.. Branches of previous season’s growth mostly relatively short, spreading and spine-tipped, often several per node; flowering branchlets very short, cushion-shaped with tufts of leaves, covered with short mostly spreading hairs, glabrescent.. Leaves 1.5–4 cm. long; stipules elliptic or oblong, concave, 1.5–2 mm. long, caducous; lateral leaflets 6–8 on either side of rhachis, oblong, 4–10 mm. long, 1.5–5 mm. wide, rounded to slightly emarginate at either end, sparsely puberulous, glabrescent; lateral nerves few, rather spreading.. Racemes or little-developed panicles arising on cushion-shaped branchlets with tufts of young leaves, 1–2.5 cm. long, with slender shortly hairy axes; bracts linear-lanceolate or oblong, 0.5–0.75 mm. long, caducous; bracteoles at top of 0.5–1 mm. long pedicel, similar.. Calyx 2–2.5 mm. long, sparsely hairy.. Corolla 4–4.5 mm. long, white, fragrant; standard suborbicular or oblong-obovate, rather shortly clawed, glabrous; wings little shorter than standard and slightly exceeding keel.. Stamens 9, united or irregularly divided into 2 phalanges.. Fruit oblong-elliptic, narrowed or shortly rounded to style-base, narrowed to a 0.8–1 cm. long stipe, 3–4 cm. long, 1.2–1.5 cm. wide, papery, glabrous, with lax prominulous venation at least over the seed-cavity, 1-seeded.
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