C. arborescens is a strong-growing, deciduous shrub up to 12 ft high, of bushy habit and copiously branched. Leaves 3 to 6 in. long; leaflets nine to thirteen, elliptic or broadly obovate with the apex notched, from 1⁄2 to 1 in. long, hairy beneath when young, becoming nearly or quite glabrous with age. Racemes axillary on the current season’s growth, produced successively as the branches extend; 11⁄2 to 4 in. long, carrying three to seven flowers towards the end. Flowers pea-shaped, yellow, 3⁄4 in. long, borne on a downy stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long; wing-petals rather shorter than the keel; calyx cup-shaped with triangular lobes. Pod inflated and bladder-like, about 3 in. long, 1 to 11⁄2 in. wide, pointed, many-seeded.
