This species occurs in habitat in the hot humid tropics of South-East Asia and Oceania. This is a massive, suckering species that can form a 'forest' of palms over time. It has pinnate leaves that emerge a brilliant red. This species is hapaxanthic, meaning it only flowers once in its lifetime and dies shortly afterwards. While one stem may die after flowering, the palm lives on through its suckers, which continue to grow below ground level. It also has one of the largest flowers in the plant world, up to 25' tall right from the top of the palm. The fruit is hard, scaled and very large (size of baseballs). They turn bright green to tan as they ripen. This is an important plant economically throughout tropical Asia as a source of edible starch. The true sago palm, this has been described as humankind’s oldest foodplant.