A small, broad-crowned tree to 12 m tall. Branchlets covered with pale brown hair when young. Leaves alternate, pinnate, to 15 cm long. Leaflets of 10-20 pairs, each leaflet 1.5-3.5 cm long, almost stalkless or with a very short stalk, ovate or ellipticoblong, with many closely pressed silky hairs. Flowers golden yellow, in clusters of 4-10, each about 5 cm long, with petals of unequal length. Fruit pods to 20 cm long; seeds yellow, becoming brown.
This tree occurs naturally on the N Island along streamsides and on lowland forest margins.
New Zealand.
ACT: Regatta Point.VIC: Melbourne (Bot. Gds, New Zealand beds).
Source: (2002). Fabaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
A slow growing dwarf plant, flowering when 1 m or so tall.Will grow true from seed. Probably originated in Christchurch, New Zealand, before the 1960s.