The upper stems of Scutia myrtina are green and smooth, often four-angled. Pale brown colouring appears gradually in longitudinal strips. The internodes may be long. Older stems have yellow-brown, corky bark, the tree usually multistemmed.

Short, hard, hooked thorns grow with the leaves at the nodes, their tips in picture black and sharp. There are often also longer thorns on the plant, their tips still hooked. The thorns usually grow in pairs.

The pale leaf petioles visible here are curved (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993).