Albizia versicolor is a medium to large, deciduous tree, 8–10 m tall and may reach up to 20 m high, but is smaller when growing in poor soil. It has a tall, straight, rod-like trunk with a diameter up to 1.5 m. This tree usually has a single stem but is sometimes multi-stemmed. The bark is very rough, dark grey and corky, with cracks in older trunks. The crown is rounded to spreading, and may be twice as wide as the tree is tall. Young branches are light brownish to yellow, and the mature branches are darker grey to brown and are very rough and hairy. The leaves are twice pinnate, the rachis up to 180 mm long, giving rise to 1 to 3, up to 5 pairs of pinnae, which support 2 to 5, up to 6 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are large, up to 70 x 50 mm, oblong or almost round, and hairy on both sides. Young leaves are silky and pinkish to red, the mature ones are shiny olive-green. In autumn the leaves turn yellow before they drop.

Flowering time is in late spring to early summer (October–November), the flowers often appear with the new leaves and are bisexual. The flower heads are large, creamy white turning pinkish yellow, made up of a cluster of flowers. The stalk that supports the inflorescence is about 60 mm long. The calyx is up to 8 mm long, the corolla is up to 12 mm long and has 5 white petals with a funnel-shaped base. The fluffy appearance of the flowerhead is caused by the up to 70 mm long, white stamens.

The fruits are thin pods, up to 230 mm long and 60 mm wide. They are bright green or reddish to brown and glossy. When the fruits are mature they usually contain 6 seeds. The seeds are flattened and about 9–13 mm long. Seeds and pods are poisonous to livestock and the young pods are the most toxic.