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Considerable power is required in sawing and planing, but a good polish can be obtained. The wood is easy to split. It holds nails and screws well, but pre-boring is needed. It is very durable and resistant to insect attack. The heartwood does not absorb preservatives.

Evergreen or deciduous shrub or small tree up to 13(–25) m tall; bark surface smooth to flaky, grey to pale brown; twigs slightly hairy or glabrous. Leaves alternate, imparipinnately compound with 4–7 pairs of leaflets; stipules absent; petiole and rachis together 10–20 cm long; stipels needle-shaped, 4–6 mm long; petiolules c. 4 mm long; leaflets opposite, oblong to lanceolate, 4–8 cm × 1–3.5 cm, acuminate at apex, glabrous above, short-hairy below. Inflorescence a terminal, spike-like panicle up to 25 cm long, with short branches, dark brown velvety hairy. Flowers bisexual, papilionaceous; pedicel 2–6 mm long, with 2 small bracteoles near apex; calyx campanulate, c. 7 mm long, tube about as long as lobes; corolla pale purple, standard orbicular, c. 15 mm in diameter, with claw at base, wings and keel slightly shorter; stamens 10, 9 fused, 1 almost free; ovary superior, hairy, style slender, curved, hairy at base. Fruit an oblong to lanceolate, flat pod up to 15 cm × 3.5 cm, with stiff wall, densely brownish hairy, dehiscent with spiralling valves, often 2-seeded. Seeds oblong, flattened, smooth, reddish brown.

Young trees grow fairly fast: 80–100 cm/year under favourable conditions. New foliage of ''Millettia grandis'' is dark reddish brown or coppery red. Trees flower in December–January. The fruits ripen 6–8 months later. ''Millettia grandis'' nodulates with rhizobial bacteria.

''Millettia'' comprises about 150 species, most of them (about 90) in mainland Africa, 8 endemic to Madagascar, and about 50 in tropical Asia. It is in need of revision and should be split into several genera based on molecular evidence.

== Ecology ==

''Millettia grandis'' occurs in coastal forest and open lowland forest up to 600 m altitude. It can be found as a pioneer along forest margins. It tolerates light frost. It often occurs on sandy soils, but also on shale, where trees are often gnarled. It grows best in deep soils where ample water is available. It is locally common.

== Management ==

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