Pritchardia hardyi, a tree in the Arecaceae (palm) family, is a medium sized palm tree up to 9 m (30 ft) tall. The trunk is brownish, smooth, and 20 to 31 cm (8 to 12 in) in diameter. The lower surface of the leaf blade has pale greenish to golden, fringed scales with long gray scales giving the leaf a silvery gray to nearly white appearance. Flower stalks have up to five very long, straight, spreading to drooping primary branches that are equal to or are longer than the leaf blades, but expand so that the fruit stalks are much longer than the leaf blades. Flowers are spirally arranged in inflorescences that are covered in rusty brown, felt-like hairs. Fruit are small, black, ellipsoid to nearly spindle-shaped, up to 3.6 cm (1.4 in) long, and 1.5 cm (0.6 in) wide.