[2][3] It is a medium-sized palm, growing to 20 metres (66 feet) tall, with the trunk remaining covered by the rough old leaf bases.

It serves as an important part of the diet of several endangered species, including cloud rats of the genus Phloeomys.

The sap is harvested for commercial use in southeast Asia, yielding a sugar known as gur in India, gula aren in Indonesia, and pakaskas in the Philippines.

The sap is collected and made as lahang, a traditional cold sweet drink, and is also fermented into vinegar (Filipino sukang kaong), palm wine (Filipino tubâ, Malaysian and Indonesian tuak, in eastern Indonesia sageru), which in turn is distilled into a spirit (sopi in Maluku, cap tikus in North Sulawesi).

He said that it was "the pith furnished with sugar – when the liquor was properly boiled down, a farina...and of the inside of its triangular-shaped fruit a sweet bread was made.

[3] The seeds can be used in many different recipes, such as sour soup, or eaten with pandan juice, syrup, or coconut milk.

[11] In Thailand, some people eat the young shoot with chili sauce, and use them as cooking ingredients in dishes like soup.

]; iju, ejoo, eju or gomuti—a term that botanists applied as a specific or generic name to the whole plant)—in Malay;[13] ijuk in Indonesia; and yumot or cabo negro in the Philippines), is manufactured into cordage, brushes, brooms, thatch roofing, or filters.

[citation needed] In Thailand, fibres were once used to create raincoats for miners called Jang Sui (Thai: จั่งซุ้ย).

[3] In Indonesia, starch can also be extracted from sugar palms and used in place of rice flour in noodles, cakes, and other dishes.

[3] The timber is used for high grade construction, posts, beams, flooring, interior finish, wharf bridge building and other uses where strength and durability are important.

Harvesters use a vine to attach this bamboo ladder to the trunk, providing them with steps to climb up and reach the fruits.

[21] In some areas of southern Thailand, such as Ban Khlong Bor Saen and Bang Toei, Phang Nga, cultural beliefs associated with Arenga pinnata are prevalent.

[12][22] However, it has a nickname "Ton Luk Kha Mae" (Thai: ต้นลูกฆ่าแม่) which means a child kills its mother, as the Arenga pinnata in those areas can produce fruits only once in its lifetime and it will perish within 4 -5 years.