Deciduous shrub or tree to 10 m high; branchlets and leaves glabrous. Leaves with rachis 8–20 cm long; pinnae in 1 or 2 pairs; pinnules in 8–16 pairs, narrow-linear to narrow-lanceolate, (8–)20–50 mm long, 2–5 mm wide, asymmetric, mucronate; spinescent stipule 0.7–5 cm long, solitary. Inflorescence a dense spike-like raceme, 6–8 cm long; calyx glabrous. Pods 9–20 cm long, 7–8 mm wide, moniliform in part, yellowish, shortly stalked; seeds 6–20, pale brown, transverse. Flowers Oct.–Jan.
Wim. Also naturalised WA, Qld, NSW. Native to northern and central America, known in Victoria from a single record in the Wimmera region where plants have escaped cultivation and spread into adjoining bushland.