Plants ranging from 25 cm. to 1 m. tall, with slender to stout stems up to c. 5 cm. diam. near base. Lvs ∞, 15-75 cm. long, pinnate, rather flaccid, margins smooth or nearly so. Sheaths broad, c. 5 cm. long; stipules spinulose; petioles 10-25 cm. long; internodes up to 10 cm. long. Pinnae 2-4 pairs, 10-40 cm. × 4-12 mm., conspicuously articulated to axis, striate coriac., narrow-linear, pungent. Infl. a ± globose or open panicle. Bracts with broad, submembr. sheaths up to c. 4 cm. long, passing into a simple to 3-foliolate lamina up to c. 4 cm. × 5 mm.; stipules sts absent. Umbels ∞, solitary or 2 together in axils of bracts. Males on stout peduncles 2-12 cm.. long; females with shorter peduncles and denser umbellules, sts polygamous. Umbellules ± 2.5 cm. diam. Fr. 8-10 mm. long; mericarps 5-4-3-winged. Vittae 1-2 per furrow, 3-5 commissural.