Rhapis excelsa is a dense, clumping palm with multiple, slender, bamboo-like stems.
At the end of long stalks are lustrous deeply divided leaves. The number of lobes and the lance shaped lobes vary in width and It has lustrous, deeply-divided, green leaves that have a corrugated or puckered and small, bowl-shaped, creamy flowers on panicles amongst the fronds. It needs plenty of shade in a warm climate or can be grown indoors.