Grows slowly until it forms trunk, then speeds up a little. Young plants do well in pots for many years, looking something like pineapples. To 60' tall with 50-ft. Composed of a great many gracefully arching dark-green fronds, orange at base. Trunks patterned with bases of old leafstalks.
Males produce bracts or leaves surrounding flower clusters.
Females produce inedible dates on long broomlike structures. Dates appear orange, then darken to brown before they drop. Can be grown from seed, but very slow. As tree, needs staking, thinning of surplus branches to prevent tangled, top-heavy growth. Ungroomed trees have messy fruit drop with many seedlings.