The leaves are large and compound, made up of four to ten oblong leaflets, each 4 to 8 inches long, and attached by a swollen stalk. Leaflet edges tend to be wavy with rounded tips that are often indented. Leaves alternate along the stems. In Florida, flowering occurs in the winter, from January to March. Clusters of small, greenish-white flowers are borne on stalks that emerge from leaf axils.
Flowers are unisexual, with each flower cluster containing both male and female flowers.
As of July 1999, carrotwood has been added to the State of Florida List of Noxious Weeds. While carrotwood invades a variety of natural communities, including dunes, coastal strand, sand pine scrub, slash pine flatwoods, cypress swamps, freshwater marshes and river banks, it poses a special threat to coastal ecosystems like mangrove swamps and tropical hammocks. Coastal plant communities provide crucial erosion control, water quality benefits, and food and shelter for wildlife. Once introduced, carrotwood forms dense monocultures, crowding out and out-competing native plants for available light and nutrients. Because mangroves provide critical habitat for wading and diving birds, some of which are designated Species of Special Concern, and serve as nursery grounds for crabs, other crustaceans, invertebrates and commercial and recreational fish, the impacts of carrotwood establishment are serious and far-reaching.