| Pinnae number | 1-8 | 1-4 (rarely to 5 in Pi. brenanii) | 5-10 or more (2-5 in M. bahiana and M. colombiana) |
| Petiolar EFN position | Variable across species | Between or just below the first pair of pinnae | Between the base and the middle of the petiole |
| Spike arrangement | Solitary, axillary or supra-axillary to coeval leaves | Solitary (very rarely up to 2 in Pi. moniliformis), axillary to coeval leaves | 2-many fasciculate and further arranged in efoliate terminal pseudoracemes or on efoliate nodes below mature leaves |
| Petals | Reddish (yellowish in Pa. excelsa and Pa. rigida); united at the base (free in Pa. rigida) | White to yellowish or greenish; free and glabrous (united in Pi. leucoxylon) | White to yellowish or greenish; united and pubescent |
| Fruit type (dehiscence) | Legume | Follicle | Follicle |
| Fruit shape | Flat compressed, valves plicate above the seeds (except in Pa. excelsa) | Flat compressed, valves not plicate above the seeds | Flat compressed, valves not plicate above the seeds |
| Fruit margins | Straight to shallowly sinuous | Deeply constricted (moniliform) (sinuous in P. brenanii). | Straight, (shallowly and irregularly sinuous in M. bahiana, M. colombiana and M. warmingii), sometimes constricted where seeds abort |
| Valve consistency and indumentum | Thin, chartaceous, glabrous | Thick, coriaceous, mostly pubescent | Thin, coriaceous (thicker and harder in M. warmingii), glabrous |
| Embryo plumule | Developed and multifid | Rudimentary (developed and multifid in P. brenanii) | Developed and multifid |
| Seedling eophylls | Pinnate | Bifoliolate | Pinnate or bipinnate |