Erect, glabrous, prickly, straggly shrubs 1-3 m high; branchlets slightly flattened, striate soon becoming almost terete, yellowish-green to reddish-brown, sometimes pruinose; bark smooth thin.

<P>Phyllodes rhomboid-orbicular, 1-2 cm long, 8-20 mm broad, flat, dull green or somewhat glaucous. 1 major vein prominent passing into a pungent mucro to 5 mm long, lateral veins oblique and obvious. Stipules numerous, paired, prominent, rigid, subulate, divaricate, 5-10 mm long. 

<P>Inflorescences simple and axillary, solitary or twin; flower-heads large globular deep golden yellow 40-50-flowered; peduncles glabrous 10-25 mm long; flowers 5-merous. Legumes stipitate, oblong 4-8 cm long,  10-12 mm broad, chartaceous, flat but usually raised over seeds showing the outline of the seeds, apex rounded obtuse or acute with a short oblique point; margins thickened, straight or with an occasional constriction. Seeds transverse in legume; funicle short, with 2-3 folds below the base of the seed before thickening into a small aril.