Deciduous, small, glabrous, spiny tree; spines strong, straight, rigid; petioles and rachis usually winged; leaves alternate, leaflets 3-7, opposite, cuneate, obovate, obtuse or nolched at apex margins crenulate; flowers small uni or bisexual, reddish with pale green, sweet smelling; male female in same panicles, calyx, small, flat, deciduous, 5 toothed; petals 5 rarely 6, free, spreading, imbricate; stamens 10-12, filaments, dilated, anthers linear, oblong, blackish red; disk annular; ovary oblong, 5-6 celled, style absent, stigma oblong or fusiform; fruits large, up to 8 cm in diameter, globose, 1-celled, pericarp woody, greenish-grey, many seeded; seeds small, little compressed, embedded in pulp.