A small, straggly tree, 6–10 m high, with thorns on the trunk and branches, and it is semi deciduous during the dry season. The bark is creamy-grey, deeply furrowed and corky. It produces showy scarlet to orange-red pea flowers in loose clusters at the tips of branches throughout August to September. Its beanlike seeds are orange to dark yellow in colour and are borne in pods 6–12 cm long. It will grow in a wide range of soils provided drainage is good and it has plenty of sun.