Edible Portion: Fruit, Flower Shoots, Cabbage, Palm Heart, Vegetable, Seed
A tall slender palm with thorny trunk and suckers at the base. It often has between 1 and 13 stems. The stems are straight and un-branched. They are 6-24 m tall, 12-26 cm in diameter, with nodes 2-9 cm long and internodes 7-27 cm long at breast height. The canopy has 10-30 pinnate leaves which are spineless. The petiole-sheath is 49-179 cm long, the rachis is 179-396 cm long, and has 180-386 leaflets. The leaflets are twice forked and leaflets are 58-115 cm long, 3-6 cm wide. Flowers are separately male and female on the same stalk of the same palm. Female flowers are irregularly arranged among male flowers. Fruit are orange when ripe. and about 5-8 cm across. They have yellow oily flesh. Fruit without seeds often occur.