Mostly trees with a greyish appearance, 2-4 m high, with a single main stem, a rounded crown and a slightly drooping appearance, sometimes branching close to the ground and appearing multi-stemmed; occurring in grassland or bushveld where the winters are cold, always associated with dark, magnetite-rich soils tending to show signs of bush encroachment by invading the sweet grassland. Bark: dark brown to blackish, longitudinally fissured; young stems green and densely velvety; later the velvety layer peeling off to expose a rusty, powdery underbark; stipules spinescent, the spines in pairs, short to rudimentary, velvety, 1-40 mm long, ivory to grey. Leaves: densely velvety, rachis about 3.5 cm long; with 3-6 or more pairs of pinnae, each 1.5-2.8 cm long, bearing 9-11 pairs of leaflets; leaflets 6 x 2.2 mm at the widest point, apex sharply pointed; petiole 7-13 mm long with an inconspicuous gland. Flowers: in yellow balls (mainly Dec.). Fruit: a pod, mostly about 8 x 1 cm, densely velvety, light brown to greyish, nearly straight, only slightly constricted between the seeds. Seeds: usually 7 per pod.
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