Tī ngahere is a sparingly-branched cabbage tree up to 4 metres (13 ft) tall.

The leaves are lanceolate (somewhat paddle-shaped), up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in)long and from 40–80 millimetres (1.6–3.1 in) wide.

Unlike C. australis it seems to be resistant to a disease called "sudden decline", caused by the pathogen Phytoplasma australiense.

Fresh seed takes readily, and cuttings taken from the stems and trunk and shoots root quickly.

It is rarer in cultivation than C. australis but is available from many nurseries and garden centres, often as a purple-leaved cultivar.