The shrub can grow to a height of up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) and has a spindly habit with slender lenticellular branchlets.

The shrub bloom between July and September and[3] produces simple inflorescences that occur singly in the axils that have spherical flower-heads containing 12 to 30 cream to pale yellow coloured flowers.

After flowering firmly chartaceous, dark brown seed pods that resemble a string of beads appear.

The dull black to dark mottled brown to yellow seeds have an oblong shape and a length of 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in).

[4] The specific epithet is a reference to the approximate tetragonus shape of the cross section of the phyllodes.