Tree up to 14(20) m in height, spiny, hermaphrodite, deciduous, branched from the base and \u00b1 umbrella-like, or with a well defined, straight or somewhat tortuous trunk, and slightly irregular crown. Trunk with a greyish-brown bark, fissured longitudinally, that peels into elongated scales. Branches extended, highly branched, smooth, older branches brown-greyish, younger branches reddish-brown, and branchlets of the current year greenish-reddish, glabrous or hairy, with lenticels. Stipular spines (0.5)2-10 cm, paired, divergent, straight or slightly curved backwards, at first of the same colour as the branchlets turning whitish or white. Leaves 1-4.5 cm, alternate or in fascicles at the nodes, bipinnate with petiole 2-15 mm, and rachis with 2-8(10) pairs of pinnae -with 1 gland at the insertion of the pinnae-, each with 4-15(20) pairs of leaflets (1)2.7 \u00d7 0.6-1.2 mm, oblong or oblong-linear, with rounded apex and base, subsessile, entire, glabrous or hairy, dull green in colour, glaucescent on both sides. Inflorescences in spherical capitula, (4)7-12 mm in diameter, axillary, solitary or in groups of 2-5, pedunculate -peduncle 1.5-3 cm, glabrescent-, with numerous minute flowers, white or whitish-yellow. Calyx 1.5-2 mm, with glabrous teeth. Corolla 1.5-3 mm, with 5 ovate lobes. Stamens very numerous. Pod 3-15 cm \u00d7 5-9 mm, linear, highly compressed, slightly constricted between the seeds, glabrous or hairy, green at first turning a pale orange, brown or blackish, with irregular longitudinal striations, twisted into a spiral at maturity -sometimes making a full circle, sometimes more than one- with 6-12 seeds. Seeds 3-7 \u00d7 2-6 mm, ellipsoid, compressed, brown-blackish, smooth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-12252","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n