There are 20-30 leaves in the crown, each leaf 90 cm long, stiff, lanceolate, pinnate, with 50-100 pairs of leaflets, these 10–17.5 cm long and 3–4 mm wide, and angled forward at 45 degrees; the leaf petiole bears minute spines.

The female cones are open, with sporophylls 15–20 cm long, with pink-brown coloured tomentose down, with two ovules.

The species is unusual in that it contains a layer of fleshy material between the sarcotesta and the sclerotesta that is thought to aid the seed by providing it with a source of water.

[3] The male cones of the plant are used in Ayurvedic medicine as a cure for rheumatoid arthritis and muscle pains.

This cycad, due to its demand for medicinal purposes, and consequent reduction in living populations, is now an endangered species.