 Older specimens lose the leaf base scars and gain a more checkerboard appearance.The leaves are 1.1-1.7 m long, pinnate with 180-320 leaflets, the leaflets 14–23 cm long and 4.5-6.5 mm wide, grey-green to glaucous; there are to 40 leaves in the crown.The leaf petioles are armed with spines in younger individuals (a few millimetres long) with this trait being lost in older individuals.