Stems clustered, rhizomatous, forming large, loose colonies, to 3 m tall, to 1.5 cm in diam., covered with persistent, fibrous leaf sheaths. Leaf sheaths with coarse, black fibers producing a square mesh; ligules not persistent; blades not split to base, divided into 2-13 segments, these with ± straight sides and jagged apices, to 40 × 7 cm, outermost narrowest. Inflorescences borne among leaves, branched to 2 or 3 orders; bracts tubular, sheathing; rachis to 26 cm; rachillae to 11 cm, glabrous; male flowers to 6 mm; sepals united into a tubular, 3-lobed calyx; petals united into a tubular corolla with a 3-lobed, valvate apex; stamens 6, borne in 2 series; filaments keeled adaxially; female flowers similar to but shorter than male. Fruits developing from 1 carpel, yellow, globose to ellipsoid, to 1 × 0.8 cm.
Scattered localities in lowland forests or dry forests, on slopes; at elevations up to 1,000 metres.
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