It has feather palm pinnate leaves that arch inwards towards a thick stout trunk.

[4][7][8] This taxon was first scientifically described in 1826 as Cocos capitata in the Historia Naturalis Palmarum by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, who described and illustrated the palm from sketches and herbarium collections he made on montane grasslands near the Serra de Santo Antônio, Minas Gerais.

[10] The fruits are locally harvested from the wild between November and February to make juices, liquor, marmalades and ice-cream.

In the north of Minas Gerais state, B. capitata juice has been added to some public school lunches.

A glass of juice containing 100g of B. capitata pulp can provide 40% of the daily vitamin A requirements for children aged under eight by the standards of the National Academy of Medicine.