This species is characterized by its leaves with the characteristic venation of Sect. Tricephalium, somewhat slender habit, small rounded or acute to bidentate stipules, and pedunculate inflorescences that are branched to one or two orders with several bracteate heads of flowers. It seems to be infrequently collected. 

Palicourea triadica is very similar to Palicourea tricephala, and further exploration may find that these are not distinct but at present both species are poorly known but they can be distinguished by their bracts: ligulate to ovate, obtuse, and ciliolate in Palicourea triadica, vs. lanceolate, acute, and glabrous in Palicourea tricephala. This separation has been recently clarified by good material collected by the Field Museum explorations in nothern Peru; these species were confused in earlier annotations (e.g., Taylor , 2015).