The stem-top of Encephalartos paucidentatus is pale orange brown, thickly covered in a woolly crown. New leaves grow through this wool.
The long, sturdy petioles, the parts from the crown to the lowermost leaflets are smooth and paler green than the leaflets. There are several prickles on the leaf rachises above the petioles lengthening gradually into the first proper leaflets (Hugo, 2014; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; iNaturalist).