Ptaeroxylon obliquum (SA Tree List No. 292) may grow to 20 m, although it is usually much smaller; in drier environments sometimes only a shrub. Depending on the climate the tree may either be evergreen or deciduous. The bark is pale grey to whitish and smooth when young, darkening with age while becoming longitudinally fissured and flaking on mature trees. The leaves are compound without a terminal leaflet. Leaflets are opposite, growing in three to seven pairs per leaf.  They have entire margins. The leaflets display elegantly oblique shapes with distinctive curvature in their asymmetry that assists in tree identification. The rachis of the pinnate leaf is slightly winged. Leaf colour is quite variable, ranging between dark green and blue-green, brighter and hairy when young. Translucent gland dots on the leaf surface can be seen when holding the leaf against the light (Schmidt, et al, 2002; Coates Palgrave, 2002).