Small tree to 8 m tall, often with bulbous base, crown containing tuff of pinnate leaves clustered near the apex. Leaves pinnate, 70-165 cm long with 80-100 pairs of stiff leaflets. Male and female on separate plants; male cone narrowly ovoid, 25-50 cm long, microsporophylls 19-35 mm long; female megasporophylls to 15 cm long in terminal imbricating cluster forming a cabbage-like dome. Seeds 40 cm long, flattened ovoid, ripening yellow.