Cordyla africana is a tall, deciduous tree with a wide-spreading crown, 10-25 m.

Old stems are grey to dark grey and fairly smooth, the bark sporadically peeling off in thin longitudinal strips. Very old bark is rough and peels off in thin irregular sections. Living bark is dark green.

Leaves are 20-30 mm apart and arranged alternately along the twigs. They sometimes curve slightly downward but are so horizontally placed on either side of the twig that it resembles a flat, large, bipinnate leaf. Leaflets are thin and smooth, up to 45 x 20 mm. They are pale to dark green above but matt, pale green beneath, with translucent dots scattered across the surface of the blades.

The flowers are borne in short sprays in the axils of the leaves. They face upwards and are filled with nectar, which attracts sunbirds. They usually appear in September and October, together with the new leaves. Although the flowers are without petals, they are very showy with their feathery puff of golden stamens protruding from the cup-like calyx. The tree is a splendid sight when in flower.

Although the species belongs to the legume family, the fruit is pod-shaped only in a very juvenile stage. When mature, it is drupaceous, golden-yellow and glossy, with a soft, thin skin. It is oval and nearly always slightly depressed on one side. It has a thick persisting stalk. The fruit drops from the tree before it is quite ripe, completing the ripening process on the ground. It contains one or two large, pale brown seeds embedded in a jelly-like pulp. They often germinate while still in the fruit.

The timber is white to off-white initially but becomes light brown when dry and has no heartwood. The wood is light and soft and produces a fairly smooth finish.