On flowering, the inflorescence in male plants is branched to three orders, in females to one, rarely two. The prophyll is large, splitting and becoming tattered, and armed with pseudo-whorls of black spines. Peduncular bracts are not present in the genus, the first order branches bear distichous, unarmed tubular bracts with fibrous limbs which subtend or wholly enclose, in the staminate spike, the second order branch system. These are subtended by tubular, membranous bracts, the third order rachillae have similar bracts subtending solitary staminate flowers.
