Palm tree evergreen tree, up to 10 m. Stem cylindrical, stout and erect, unbranched, diameter of about 20cm, the residual brown fibrous old leaf sheaths layers wrapped in the stem, shedding the ring-shaped section. Leaves clustered at the top of the stem, unfolding outward; petiole hard, about 1m, cross-section sub-triangular, the edge has small teeth, the base with brown fibrous reticulate leaf sheaths, new petioles erect, old petioles often pendulous;

Blade sub-circular fan-shaped, 70-100cm in diameter, with a majority of folds, palmate split to the middle, with 30-50 lobes, the apex of each lobe shallowly 2-lobed, the upper green, under the surface with wax powder, the lower face of the leaf. Leathery. Inflorescences fleshy spikes, arising from apical leaf axils of stems, basally with numerous large sheathlike bracts, yellowish, pilose. Male flowers small, numerous, yellowish, perianth 6, in 2 series, broadly ovate, stamens 6, filaments short, separate; female perianth as in male, ovary superior, densely white pilose, style 3-lobed. Drupe spherical or subreniform, ca. 1 cm in diam., exocarp gray-blue when ripe, covered with wax powder. Flowering in April-May, fruiting in October-December.