This is a clustering palm with slender, cane-like stems the can become encased in layers of shaggy brown fiber and persistent leaf sheaths that gives it a wild, untamed look in the landscape.  The crown features gracefully arching, bipinnate leaves with jagged, wedge-shaped leaflets that are dark green and lend a feathery texture; petioles are unarmed and relatively short.  Inflorescences emerge from among the leaves and are branched, bearing small creamy-white flowers arranged along arching rachillae; like others in the genus, the plant is monocarpic at the stem level—each stem flowers once, then dies.  The fruits are small, round, and ripen to a bright red or orange color, standing out dramatically against the dark foliage and fibrous stems.  This species is rare in cultivation and prized by collectors for its unusual form and deep-forest appeal.