Small dioecious, 1.5 or occasionally 3 m tall palms forming dense clumps. Stem slender, enclosed in a fibrous network. Leaves palmate, spaced along the stem, midrib absent, palmately segmented nearly to the base, induplicate, leaflets blunt-tipped, several ribbed, margin toothed. Fibrous leaf-sheath at the base of petiole. Inflorescence axillary, small. Flowers unisexual, calyx trilobed; petals connate; stamens 6, epipetalous; carpels 3, free. Fruit 1-3 per flower, small, one-seeded berries. Seeds thin, stony.