Slender, clustering, climbing rattan palm reaching 5 m in height. The stem measures 5 mm in diameter with the leaf sheath, while the cane itself is 3 mm thick; internodes are 10–15 cm long and smooth. Leaves are 25–30 cm long and 20 cm wide, characterized by pinnate leaflets that are never regularly arranged. The leaf sheath is armed with scattered, erect, black-tipped spines (1.5 cm long) and spinules (1 mm long), featuring a pronounced knee and a very short, membranous ocrea. Leaflets are lanceolate, 20–26 cm long and 1.2–2.2 cm wide, grouped in 2–5 on each side of the rachis. They are smooth on both surfaces and margins, with the tips suddenly contracted and ending in bristles. The palm produces a slender flagellum (1.5 m long) armed with reflexed grapnel spines. The inflorescence is flagelliform and approximately 1 m long, with a slender, pendulous peduncle. Staminate flowers are unique in having stamens arranged in a single whorl of the same length rather than two unequal whorls.
