Dwarf spineless and toothless clustering palm. Trunk usually underground, marked with very close leaf scars, branching. Crownshaft absent. Leaves 2-3 m long, fanshaped and with a midrib, erect to arching, hastulas absent. Leaflets green to waxy grey, numerous, folded upwards. Leaf sheath splitting opposite the leaf stalk and with brown woolly hairs. Leaf stalk elongated, spineless. Flowers unisexual, the sexes on separate plants. Inflorescence short, terminal on a trunk which then dies back after fruiting. Fruit small, roundish, black, with 1 roundish seed.

Middle East to Pakistan and Afghanistan

Grown in warmer areas.

Source: Jones, D; Spencer, R. (2005). Arecaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.