Texas kidneywood is an unarmed, much-branched shrub, 3-10 ft. tall, with an open, airy structure and gland-dotted, aromatic, resinous leaves and flowers. Its spikes of white flowers are fragrant, as are the deciduous, finely divided leaves. Leaves up to 3-1/2 inches long, consisting of a central axis and as many as 40 small leaflets, each from about 1/4 – 1/2 inch long, pungent when crushed. Flowers white, small, with a delicate fragrance, arranged in spikes up to 4-1/2 inches long at the ends of branchlets, appearing intermittently from May to October, especially after rains. Fruit a pod about 3/8 inch long, often with a threadlike tip. Seed pods are somewhat persistent. Leaves and leaflets vary considerably in size, from plant to plant and sometimes on the same plant. Leaflets may vary from under 1/4 inch long on branches in full sun, to more than 1/2 inch long in shaded situations. (PERS.OBS) This tree and its relative, the more westerly E. orthocarpa, were once used in remedies for kidney and bladder ailments, hence the name