Solitary palm. Trunk (0.5-) 3-6 (-10) m high, 30-40 cm diam.; internodes 3-10 cm, grey. LEAVES tristichous, 18-24, 1.5-3.25 m, porrect, arched, twisted around the rachis, marcescent; sheath open, 30-45 cm long, 40-65 cm wide when flattened, yellow-green with dense white wax usually overlaid by thick reddish pubescence, with ligules 7 cm high, 10 cm wide, orange turning grey-brown; petiole 33-50 cm long, proximally 6-7.5 x 9-10 cm diam., distally 5 x 5 cm, channelled with sharp margins, abaxially with reddish pubescence but glabrescent. Staminate flowers with sepals 1.7-2.1 x 1.6-2 mm, concave, keeled and proximally gibbous, elliptic, rounded, entire; petals on a 1.2-1.5 mm high receptacle, 3.2- 3.5 x 1.8-2.3 mm, elliptic, fleshy, acute; stamens 6, very slightly biseriate, with the antepetalous stamens inserted slightly higher than the antesepalous ones, filaments 2.4-3 mm the abaxial midrib, and lines of scattered minute reddish scales present on the fainter veins, main vein 1, very prominent adaxially, as well as thickened margins, apex unequal, bifid in median leaflets. Inflorescence interfoliar, 125-178 x 120 cm, widely spreading, branched to 3 orders; peduncle 50-58 cm long, with scattered scales, proximally c. 5 x 3 cm diam., distally c. 3.5 x 2 cm diam.; prophyll 25-63 cm long, borne at 8-12 cm above the base of the peduncle, long, thin, anthers 1.7-2 x 1 mm, dorsifixed, versatile, held horizontally at anthesis, the locules parallel and obtuse; pistillode cylindrical, c. 1.6 mm high and 1 mm diam. Fruit ovoid, later subglobose, 15-22 x 12-19 mm, with rounded apex; mesocarp fleshy-fibrous, endocarp fibrouswith anastomosing fibres. Seed subglobose to ellipsoid, 17-19 x 15-17 mm, slightly asymmetric with an apiculate base (1 mm), with shallow anastomosing grooves over its surface, with rounded apex, and an equatorial depression corresponding to the embryo; endosperm ruminate, with ruminations up to 6 mm deep.