[2][3] The most reduced member of the Lepidocaryeae, it is similar in appearance to two closely related genera, Mauritia and Mauritiella, as well as to the former genus Lytocaryum (now included in Syagrus[4]).

[5] The genus name combines the Greek words for "scale" and "nut" and the species epithet is Latin for "thin".

Lepidocaryum is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, both with interfoliar inflorescences, branched to two orders, which are superficially similar.

Female plants produce oblong or ovoid fruit, usually with one seed, red to brown in color and covered in scales.

[3] Spread throughout Brazil's Amazon region, north to Venezuela, the wetter parts of Colombia, Guyana and Peru, it is an undergrowth palm found in low land rain forest.