Very popular and hardy clumping palm native to Mexico. Glossy dark green leaves with long thin leaflets and forms a  dense clump. An almost trunkless palm with a creeping anchoring habit, found naturally in moist forests and well adapted to growing along or in watercourses in limestone soils. It is a 'rheophyte plant', meaning it grows in streams and is able to cope with periodic inundations of floodwater.

Dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants. Flowerstalks emerge from among the leaves, followed by small 1cm oval shaped fruit containing a single seed, ripening slowly from green to black with a powdery bloom.

One of the toughest palms from the genus Chamaedorea, that loves water and makes an excellent patio specimen, screening or decorative indoor plant.