Size: tree, 30-70' average height at maturity (variable spread)
Buds: terminal absent, completely or partially hidden in area near leaf scar
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 6-8", pinnately or bipinnately compound, 20-30 leaflets, each oblong-lanceolate, crenate-serrulate toward tips, bipinnate leaves have 8-14 pinnae, glossy bright green changes to yellow or yellow-green in fall
Twigs: species bears large stout dark-brown thorns, zigzagging, often mottled or streaked
Flowers: essentially monoecious, with some perfect and imperfect flowers on tree, greenish yellow, fragrant, in short racemes, inconspicuous, bloom May-June
Fruit: large, often twisted dark brown pod, 7-18" long, 1" wide
Bark: gray-brown, long ridges divided by deep furrows
