Acacia xanthophloea is a semi-evergreen to deciduous flowering perennial tree with an upright, rounded to spreading or flat, sparsely foliated, open canopy. Fast-growing for the first few years at a rate of up to
1.5m p/a, reaching 10-15m tall with an equal spread. Noted as reaching 25-30m tal in its native habitat. Leaves are pale to mid-green, bi-pinnate, opposite, elliptic Up to 10cm long with 4-6 pairs of pinnae. Each pinnae is divided into 10-17 pairs of 2.5-6.5mm long by 0.75-1.75mm pinnul ae with smooth margins. Fine-textured. Petioles 1.5cm long, usually with a gland.
The trunk has an interesting and attractive mottled patterned bark. The bark is smooth, green-yellow, slight flaking and is coated in a yellow powder underneath which the bark is green. The bark of young twigs is red-brown and peels off exposing the yellow twigs. branches straight whitethorn, from 2-8.5cm long. Conical at the base and are arranged in pairs at the nodes and very prominent on young trees but much less so on an older tree.
