Erect shrubby herb, up to 2 m high.  Leaves alternate, pinnately compound with 4-5 pairs of ovate to lanceolate leaflets, 10 cm long with a narrow red margin;  inflorescence, axillary racemes, few-flowered, sepals pinkish, petals yellow 10-14 mm long, subtended by bracts 10-15 mm long; pod linear, 5-12 cm x 6-8 mm, compressed, slightly curved; seeds broadly ovoid, punctate, dark olive colour, ca. 4 mm long.

A short-lived shrub up to 3 m high.  Leaves alternate, compound pinnate, with 6-12 pairs of broadly oblong leaflets, blunt at the tip, unequal at the base, the terminal pair about 15 x 8 cm; inflorescence an axillary, compact raceme ca. 28 cm long; flowers golden yellow, subtended by a yellow-orange bract, 2.2 -2.5 cm long; pod 4-winged, 11-19 x 2-2.3 cm, black when ripe; seeds ca. 6 mm long, brown, angular, arranged transversely in the pod.