The bipinnately compound leaves measure some 25 cm long, and bear 4 to 8 pinnae with 12 to 23 pairs of leaflets each.

[2] Their fragrant, creamy white to yellow flowers appear in early summer, and are pollinated mainly by the African honeybee.

[2] Mature specimens carry their flowering racemes on branched stems some distance from the ground, and the pods are consequently conspicuous.

[3][4] Mature specimens of E. burkei especially, produce their flowering racemes on their branched stems, and the pods consequently appear in conspicuous positions some distance above ground.

Seed shape varies considerably in E. burkei, from elliptic to nearly quadrate when tightly compacted and laterally compressed in their pods.