Sophora tetraptera is a dicotyledonous endemic tree that sometimes has several trunks. It can grow up to 15 m tall. It is naturally occurring in the eastern North Island from East Cape south to the Wairarapa, extending west toward Taihape, lake Taupo and along the Waikato river to about LakeKarapiro.

S. tetraptera has larger more widely spaced leaves than the seven other species of kōwhai. The leaves are very large and wide grey-green is up to 220 mm long. The greyish-green leaflets are up to 40mm long and are widely spaced. Sophora tetraptera is a late flowering kōwhai developing bunches of drooping golden-yellow flowers during October-December. After flowering, it develops dry ridged and knobbly seed pods (100-280mm long) that contain hard yellow seeds.