This is a small, solitary understory palm, generally fruiting at about 6.5–13 ft. tall, with a slender trunk and a compact, elegant habit. Its leaf sheaths form a defined crownshaft, giving the palm a clean, tropical appearance. The crown carries pinnate leaves with about six to eleven pairs of distinctively curved, sigmoidal leaflets that may be light or dark green and paler beneath. The inflorescence is infrafoliar and pendent, usually with two to six slender rachillae that are often light green, though coral-red variants have been observed. The fruit is the key feature: the drupes are globose and creamy white with green tips when immature, later ripening red to black.