Dense, bushy, spreading, prickly shrubs to 3 m high; branchlets angular striate and grooved, hairy or almost glabrous. Stipules rigid, straight, divaricate, spiny, 5-10 mm long. 

<P>Phyllodes obliquely oblong or lanceolate, 1-2 cm long, 3-7 mm broad, glabrous or hairy, upper margin often undulate, 1 prominent and usually eccentric vein with a few less conspicuous lateral veins, apex acute or obtuse with a short oblique point; glands small, 1-3 mm from the base. 

<P>Inflorescences simple and axillary, solitary; flower-heads globular, deep golden yellow, c. 40-flowered; buds often appearing spiny due to the prominent bracteoles which have a subulate point extending above the petals; peduncles usually about as long as phyllodes; flowers 5-merous. 

<P>Legumes cylindrical, straight or curved, 4-7 cm long, 4-5 mm broad, usually softly hairy. Seeds longitudinal in legume, obloid; funicle with 2-3 folds, scarcely thickened into an aril.