This is a solitary palm with a slender, barely emergent trunk, often hidden beneath a dense skirt of old leaf bases.  The leaf bases wrap tightly around the stem in a fibrous, overlapping pattern.  The crown is made up of nearly circular, deeply divided deep green leaves.  It is notable for the striking color contrast of its petioles which have an orange to golden hue and typically armed with tiny black spines.  Its inflorescences are interfoliar and branched, emerging just beneath the leaves and bearing small, cream-colored flowers typical of the genus.  The fruit is small, round, and ripens to a reddish-orange hue, often tucked close to the stem in tidy clusters.  This species is extremely rare in cultivation and is known primarily from a few specialist collectors and tropical conservatories.