Stem solitary, tall and aerial or rarely short and subterranean, usually covered with persistent, fibrous leaf sheaths, stems of older plants losing this covering, leaving a bare, ringed trunk. Leaves 6-25, palmate, usually forming a dense crown; leaf sheaths open, fibrous, old sheaths forming a mass of interwoven fibers, fibers at apex of sheath on younger leaves forming a prominent ocrea; petioles elongate, often bearing small, blunt teeth along margins; hastula present, small or prominent; blades green, gray-green, or bright white waxy on abaxial surfaces, divided into many stiff segments, these shortly split at their apices, rarely 2 or 3 segments fused together. Plants dioecious or polygamous. Inflorescences branched to 4 orders, borne among leaves, covered with many sheathing bracts, usually yellowish at flowering time. Fruits yellowish brown to purple-black, often with a whitish "bloom," kidney-shaped or oblong, grooved, 1-seeded; endosperm ruminate; germination remote; eophylls undivided, lanceolate.

It has not been possible to confirm the Kew World Checklist record of Trachycarpus martianus (Wallich ex Martius) H. Wendland for China.

Eight species: Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, N Thailand, Vietnam; three species (two endemic) in China.