Pseudostems clumped, 3--8 m × 12--30 cm. Petiole 60--70 cm, margin tightly closed, submembranous, densely and finely wrinkled; leaf blade adaxially bright green, abaxially pruinose and often with large, brown spots, oblong, 1.2--2.4 m × 20--40 cm, adaxially glabrous, midvein stout, secondary veins conspicuous, pinnate, parallel, base cordate, asymmetric. Inflorescence pendulous, long. Bracts closely imbricate, reddish brown to green, ovate, ca. 10 × 6 cm, deciduous. Flowers 10--12 per bract, in 2 rows; flowers in basal 3--6 bracts female, those in distal bracts male. Compound tepal ca. 4 cm, outer lobes cucullate, corniculate. Berries green, slightly trigonous, curved, 5--9 × 2--3 cm, inedible. Seeds black, turbinate, ca. 7 mm in diam., multiangled. 2 n = 20.

Grown for the fiber obtained from the leaf sheaths.

Cultivated. Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [native to Indonesia, Philippines].