Unfortunately, old specimens are rare due to past logging. Older trees sometimes have hollows which are favoured by the endangered Green Parrot for nesting. Outside Norfolk Island, the species is only known as a rare plant in the northern part of the North Island of New Zealand. The Norfolk Island Palm is prominent along gullies in or near the National Park, but rare elsewhere on the island. It reaches 10 m in height.
Fruits are an attractive bright red when ripe.
The growing tip of the Norfolk Island Palm was used by early settlers as a vegetable and is reported to have tasted like a nut when raw and like an artichoke bottom, when boiled. Removal of the tip kills the palm. Ribs froth the palm fronds were used for making brooms, and the fronds woven into baskets. Norfolk's majestic pine is perhaps the island's most prominent and best known symbol. Pines as tall as 57 m with an 11 m circumference have been recorded.