Medium sized to large palm with a robust, columnar trunk. Leaf stalks are sharply toothed at the bases, and the fan-shaped, gray green blades, 1.5 - 3m long, are erect at first, then spreading and arching, with filaments hanging from the slender lobes. Dead foliage forms an even skirt that clothes the trunk from top to bottom. Bears tubular, creamy white flowers in panicles up to 5m long, usually in summer.
