It is a woody climber with prickles on the branchlets, thick, cone-shaped spines on the trunk and older branches, pinnate leaves with five to nine leaflets, and panicles or racemes of white to pale yellow, male or female flowers in leaf axils and on the ends of branchlets.

Zanthoxylum nitidum is a woody climber with curved prickles on the branchlets and thick, cone-shaped spines on the trunk and older branches.

Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is a more or less spherical, red or brown follicle 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) long.

[6] In 1824, de Candolle changed the name to Zanthoxylum nitidum in his book, Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.

In Australia it grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of 400 m (1,300 ft) from the Daintree River south to Rockingham Bay.