Cyanea gibsonii is a palm-like tree that grows between 1 and 7 meters tall. The stems are unbranched and support alternate, simple leaves. The leaf blades are oblanceolate to oblong or elliptic, measuring 20–80 cm in length and 6.5–20 cm in width. The leaf apex ranges from acute to obtuse, sometimes acuminate, while the base is cuneate, obtuse, or rounded. The upper surfaces of the leaves are glabrous or sparsely pubescent, and the lower surfaces are pubescent. The margins are callose–denticulate, occasionally erose–dentate. The petioles, which are 3–17 cm long, can be muricate. It features inflorescences of 5–15 flowers clustered among the leaves with peduncles ranging from 10 to 80 mm long. The hypanthium is obconical, measuring 10–20 mm long and 5–10 mm wide. The calyx is 5-lobed with oblong, narrowly oblong, or ovate lobes. The corolla, zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetric) in shape, is blackish purple on the outside and white or pale lilac inside, measuring 60–80 mm in length and 6–11 mm in width. It is densely pubescent or occasionally nearly glabrous outside and glabrous inside. The stamens alternate with the corolla lobes, and the anthers are glabrous, with the lower two having apical white hairs. The ovary is inferior, 2-celled, and with axile placentation. The fruit is a yellowish-orange berry, obovoid or ellipsoid in shape, measuring 15–30 mm in length and 12–25 mm in width. The seeds are numerous, small, brown to black, smooth, shiny, 0.2–0.5(–2) mm long, with a straight, short to spatulate dicotyledonous embryo embedded in oily endosperm. It is found in wet forests at elevations between 760-1,970 meters.