Coontie is a small palmlike perennial plant that grows to a height of about 3 ft. Coontie forms a colony of suckers that slowly grow into mounds 5-6 ft wide.
The glossy dark green pinnate leaves are 3 ft long with narrow pinnae (leaflets) 4-6 in long by 0.25 in wide. This species is dioecious, having male or female reproductive parts (called "cones") present on separate plants.
In late winter the rusty-brown male and female cones emerge from the ground. Males produce pollen that fertilizes the female cones that mature in late autumn when the shiny orange seeds are released.
Its evergreen leaves are fine in texture and resemble those of a fern.
They are produced from a thick underground storage root in one or more flushes each year. This cycad has a much softer appearance and is without the sharp edges of some of the other popular cycads used in the landscape such as Cycas revoluta.