This is an unarmed, clustering palm that forms open clumps, composed of numerous exceptionally slender, green, ringed, bamboo-like stems that may lean or arch outward with age. Each stem carries only two or three spreading pinnate leaves, generally with 13–15 narrow leaflets on each side, creating the light, graceful appearance that inspired the name delicata. Male and female flowers occur on separate plants, with flower stalks emerging below the leaves; the male inflorescences are longer and more openly branched, while the female inflorescences are shorter with just a few stiff, upright branches. The small male flowers open yellow and are notably fragrant, while female flowers transition from greenish before opening to yellow shortly afterward; fruit and seed have not yet been observed and remain officially unknown in the species description. This is a newly described species, formally named by Donald R. Hodel and colleagues in September 2025 after five unidentified palms growing in Fern Canyon at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance were studied and found to represent a species new to science; remarkably, its original wild provenance has been lost, although Kew tentatively lists southeastern Mexico as its native range. An intriguing curiosity is that this palm had apparently been growing unnoticed in cultivation for decades—two documented specimens arrived at the San Diego Zoo from Rancho Soledad Nursery in 1999—before Hodel encountered the plants during a 2025 inventory and recognized that they did not match any known species.First described in 2025.