The ana-tree, Faidherbia albida, has alternate leaves that are twice-compound, comprising three to ten pairs of pinnae. Each pinna consists of six to 23 pairs of fairly large, grey-green leaflets, oblong to linear in shape and hairy. Leaflet tips are rounded to slightly pointed. Leaflet dimensions are 4,5 mm to 9 mm long and 0,75 mm to 3 mm wide.

There are glands on the rachis or central stalk of the leaf from which the pinnae grow sideways, the glands positioned between the bases of the pinnae pairs. The hairy leaf petiole has no gland.

The flowers grow in yellowish white or cream spikes, from 3,5 cm to 16 cm long. Flowering happens from late autumn to early spring.

The fruit is a thick, flat, orange-brown pod, sickle-shaped or twisted and curled into a coil. The fruit are mostly seen in the latter half of spring (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997).