Ceroxylon vogelianum is a small to medium-sized palm with a stem of 3–17 meters tall and 12–25 cm in diameter. The crown can have 6 to 18 leaves, most of them almost upright or horizontally arranged. Leaf blades are made of 46–129 leaflets in a rhachis of 38–210 cm long; petiole 15–75 cm long. Male inflorescences around 160 cm long, with about 40 branches; male flowers with 6 stamens, with filaments up to 1.5 mm long and anthers 1.6–2.5 mm long. Female inflorescences around. 360 cm long with 31–53 branches; female flowers with 6 staminodes and a green pistil of 2–3 mm in diameter. Fruits globose, orange-red when ripe, 1.6–2.0 cm diam. with seeds 1.1–1.6 cm diam.