It has deeply fissured bark with a dark brown to black colour at the base of the tree, and terete branchlets that are hairy when young.

The dark green evergreen leaves typically have a length of 2.5 to 9 cm (1.0 to 3.5 in) with one prominent gland about halfway along.

The tree blooms between December and February, producing inflorescences in panicles or racemes with spherical flower-heads that have a diameter of 7 to 10 mm (0.3 to 0.4 in) and contain 30 to 55 pale yellow to cream-coloured flowers.

The straight, flat seed pods that form after flowering have a length of 4 to 17.5 cm (1.6 to 6.9 in) and a width of 9 to 15 mm (0.4 to 0.6 in) that are firmly papery to leathery.

[citation needed] It sometimes escapes from gardens and is considered as a weed in the wetter Warren and Jarrah Forest regions in the South West of Western Australia, where it grows in loamy lateritic soils.