A striking, multi-stemmed shrub or small tree, usually 1.5-2.0 m, but occasionally up to 4 m tall. Young stems reddish brown, puberulous or densely appressed pubescent, becoming glabrous with age and peeling off in thin flakes, armed with scattered, almost straight and spreading or slightly curved prickles up to 11 mm long. Leaves bipinnate; pinnae 2-4 pairs; leaflets 4-6(8) pairs per pinna, opposite to subopposite, narrowly oblong or oblong-elliptic, 3-11 x 2-5 mm, rounded at apex and mucronate, asymmetric basally, olive green, glabrous or sparingly puberulous on both surfaces or only along the midrib, densely dark gland-dotted on both surfaces; petiole sparingly puberulous, 4-16 mm long; rhachis sparingly puberulous, often prickly at intersection of pinnae pairs. Inflorescence a lateral simple raceme up to 60 mm long. Bracts conspicuous, purple pink, densely appressed pubescent, broadly suborbicular, aristate with a sharp brown arista, deciduous as flowers open. Flowers hermaphrodite, purple pink. Sepals 5, dark maroon, conspicuously veined on inside, densely grey appressed pubescent, gland-dotted outside, the lower sepal larger and cucullate, forming a hood over the other sepals. Petals 5, free to base, obovate, up to 12 mm long and 8 mm wide, glabrous or slightly puberulous on outside. Stamens 10, up to 10 mm long; filaments pink, white villous for two-thirds from base, glabrous in upper third; anthers brown, dorsifixed, up to 1.5 mm long. Ovary glabrous. Pods compressed, broadly oblong ovoid, beaked, 15-22 x 10-15 mm, maroon-brown, hard and woody, glabrous. Seeds more or less obovoid, maroon-brown.
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