Usually a multi-stem shrub, but can reach 5m high. The leaves are pinnate with 6 to 10 pairs of opposite leaflets. The flowers, produced in May, are yellowish green with dark green markings in long racimes up to 0.5m long. The seeds are a bean produced in blue pods. It is for these dramatic pods that the shrub is usually grown. 
Decaisnea is a native of China from Sikkim to Yunnan. In some areas the plant has yellow fruit; the plant in cultivation with blue pods comes from Sichuan, Shensi and Hubei. The blue fruit form was known as Decaisnea fargesii, but this is now treated as part of the D. insignis species 
For up to date nomenclature information on this and other plant species see powo.science.kew.org.

Photos taken in Belfast Botanic Gardens in 2007. Copyright: Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens.