Tree with much-branched spreading crown, 6–20 m. tall, with large corky-bosses bearing curved prickles on old branches; usually flowering when leafless.. Stems grey or yellow-brown, wrinkled, roughened by leaf-and peduncle-scars, with strong curved black prickles, soon glabrous.. Leaflets rounded-obovate, rhomboid or broadly elliptic, 2–9 cm. long, 1·5–12 cm. wide, broadly rounded or slightly emarginate at the apex, sinuately cuneate at the base or truncate, finely, often ± persistently, stellate tomentose beneath; midrib with or without prickles; petiole 3·5–15 cm. long, with small scattered prickles; rhachis 1·5–6 cm. long; petiolules 2·5–7 mm. long.. Inflorescences covered with a deciduous velvety ferruginous stellate tomentum; rhachis 8–25 cm. long; peduncle 7–20 cm. long; pedicels 4–9 mm. long, soon glabrescent; bracts 3 mm. long, 1 mm. wide and bracteoles 1 mm. long and wide, very deciduous.. Calyx subcylindric, obscurely minutely lobulate at the apex, later splitting on the vexillar side to form a spathe, 1·7–2·5 cm. long, at first velvety tomentose but later with very fine whitish or ferruginous stellate hairs.. Standard brick-red or vermilion-scarlet, very short-clawed, elliptic, 5–7·5 cm. long, 1·8–3·3 cm. wide, narrowly rounded; keel and wings brownish-salmon, ± equal, a quarter to a third the length of the standard.. Pods shortly stipitate, oblong, strongly curved, compressed, 13–30 cm. long, 1·8–2·3 cm. wide, (2–)6–11-seeded, not constricted between the seeds, densely velvety stellate tomentose when very young, soon becoming glabrous; valves completely separating, obscurely wrinkled; upper suture 2–3 times as wide as the lower suture.. Seeds bright sulphur yellow, with small black patch at one end of the hilum, or dull reddish, oblong-ellipsoid, longest dimension 1·5–1·6 cm., shorter dimension 9–10 mm., 7–8 mm. thick; hilum elliptic, 3 mm. long.
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