A dwarf, unarmed “stemless” subterranean palm with rhizome. Leaves green or bluish, stiff or nearly flat, 45-105 cm long, divided 2/3 or more to the base into 20-35 (-40) entire or shortly 2-cleft, 1-ribbed segments; petiole green, as long as the blade, unarmed, smooth. Inflorescence usually exceeding leaves, erect, 60-150 cm long, primary branches usually once branched into rachillae. Flowers whitish, small, c. 3 mm long; sepals united in a 3-lobed calyx; corolla lobes imbricate in bud. Carpels united. Fruit black, glossy, globular, c. 1 cm in diameter.

Type: Described from N. America.

Distribution: Indigenous to S.E. United States of America; rarely cultivated in Pakistan and elsewhere.