[3] Phoenix loureiroi contains solitary and clustering plants with trunks from 1–4 m high and 25 cm in width, usually covered in old leaf bases.

The leaves vary to some degree but usually reach 2 m in length with leaflets wide at the base and sharply pointed apices.

The fruit is a single-seeded drupe, bluish-black when ripe, produced on erect, yellow inflorescences, usually hidden within the leaf crown.

[4] There are two varieties,[3] based on the presence or absence of sclerotic, tannin-filled cells along the midribs and margins of leaflets: Fibers from P. loureiroi var.

loureiroi, known locally as "vuyavuy palm" (also spelled "voyavoy"), are used to make the distinctive vakul headgear and kanayi vests of the Ivatan people in the Batanes Islands of the northern Philippines.