The pomelo tree may be 16 to 50 ft (5-15 m) tall. Some forms are dwarfed. The young branchlets are angular and often densely hairy, and there are usually spines on the branchlets, old limbs and trunk. The leaves are alternate, ovate, ovate-oblong, or elliptic, 2 to 8 in (5-20 cm) long, 3/4 to 4 3/4 in (2-12 cm) wide, leathery, dull-green, glossy above, dull and minutely hairy beneath, the petiole broadly winged to occasionally nearly wingless. The flowers are fragrant,yellowish-white, 3/5 to 1 1/3 in (1.5-3.5 cm) long, somewhat hairy on the outside.