Red cassia is a graceful tree with spreading, drooping branches appearing to be overweighted by its wealth of clustering orange blossoms. Has alternate pinnate leaves in pairs with colored margins which further enhance the appearance. The leaves are about 1 ft long and each has 15-20 pairs of oblong 2 in leaflets. Red cassia produces clusters of pink, rose or orange flowers in axillary and terminal, often branched, racemes. The flower petals are about 0.5 in long and the conspicuous yellow stamens are characteristically swollen at their middles. The fruit is a typical legume: it is cylindrical and indehiscent (does not split open by itself), 8-12 in long, less than 1 in in diameter, and bears many seeds separated by papery partitions.