Stems clustered (solitary in cultivated plants), 1-3 m tall, to 10 cm in diam., straight or twisted, rough with persistent, diamond-shaped leaf bases. Leaves to 2 m; sheath and petiole to 50 cm; rachis 1-2 m; acanthophylls ca. 12 per side of rachis; pinnae 25-50 per side of rachis, linear, regularly arranged and spreading in same plane, with persistent scales on abaxial surface of midrib; middle pinnae 20-40 × ca. 1.5 cm. Male inflorescences pendulous, 30-60 cm, with to 20 rachillae, these 7-20 cm; female inflorescences erect, to 35 cm, with to 50 rachillae. Fruits orange-brown or purple-brown, obovoid, to 1.8 × 0.7 cm; endosperm homogeneous.

This species is widely planted as an ornamental.

Scattered localities on rocky riverbanks or cliffs, sometimes with stems submerged, especially along the Lancang Jiang and Nu Jiang, at low elevations. Yunnan [Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].