Red cassia is a graceful tree with spreading, drooping branches appearing to be overweighted by its wealth of clustering orange-red blossoms. The tree 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. Sepal cup is hairy, with sepals ovate, 4-7 mm long. Petals are 1-1.5 cm long, oblong-obovate, hairy externally. Stamens are 10, 4 long, 3 medium sized and 3 small, not swollen in the middle. 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.