Lianas climbing into canopy; trunk and branches sulcate, generally glabrous, the ribs (3) 4 (to several), pubescent, armed with prickles, the prickles numerous, 3-5 mm long, broad-based, recurved. Leaves bipinnate with 4-9 pairs of pinnae; rachis and petiole glabrous to puberulent, usually armed and sometimes with many slender stalked glands ca 0.5 mm long, the glands sometimes at nodes on rachis; leaflets in 8-25 pairs per pinna, oblong-elliptic, oblique, acute to +/- rounded and apiculate at apex, truncate at base and attached at a corner, 8-14 mm long, 1.5-4 mm wide, the margins entire or sparsely ciliate. Flowers in short, paniculate spikes; calyx and corolla glabrous. Legumes tan, 15-20 cm long, ca 3.5 cm wide, flat. Croat 15568. The flower and fruit description given here is taken from the Flora of Guatemala (Standley & Steyermark, 1946). BCI vegetative material differs from the descriptions of other authors by having larger leaflets (to 14 mm long and 4 mm wide, compared to 10 mm long and 2 mm wide).