The talipot palm bears the largest inflorescence of any plant, 6–8 m (20–26 ft) long, consisting of one to several million small flowers borne on a branched stalk that forms at the top of the trunk (the titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum, from the family Araceae, has the largest unbranched inflorescence, and the species Rafflesia arnoldii has the world's largest single flower).

It is also cultivated in Southeast Asian countries of Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and the Andaman Islands.

In South India, the palm leaves are used to make umbrellas for agricultural workers.

The tree is known as kudapana (കുടപ്പന) in Malayalam, talo (/tɑːloʊ/, ତାଳ) in Odia, sreetalam (శ్రీతాళం) in Telugu and kudaipanai (குடைப்பனை) in Tamil, which means umbrella palm.

In Cambodia, the palm is known as tréang (it was also known by the French name latanier), and as noted above was extensively used in the past to write religious manuscripts.