Description This very symmetrical plant supports a crown of shiny, dark green leaves on a thick shaggy trunk that is typically about 20-30 cm diameter. The trunk is very low to subterranean in young plants, but lengthens above ground with age. The plant is very slow-growing. The leaves are a deep semiglossy green and about 50–150 cm long when the plants are of a reproductive age. They grow out into a feather-like rosette to 1-1.5m in diameter. The crowded, stiff, narrow leaflets are 8–18 cm long and have strongly recurved or revolute edges. The basal leaflets become more like spines.
