[1] The specific epithet refers to the pubescent (downy) hairs on the outer surface of the spathe.

[2] Butia pubispatha was discovered, and the type specimen and live plants collected, by Harri Lorenzi and Kelen Pureza Soares in 2008.

The rachis of the leaf is 25-65cm long and has 16-28 pairs of pinnae (leaflets) arranged regularly down its length and inserted in a single plane per side of the leaf, a pair of pinnae thus forming a neat 'V'-shape.

[1][2] In a key to the genus provided in 2014, Noblick contrasts it to B. marmorii, but the spathe in that species is papery, smooth or scaly, and the inflorescence has a much shorter peduncle and rachillae.

As of 2017 it has not been found anywhere except the type locality in the east of the state of Paraná in southeastern Brazil.

[7][3] It grows in sunny high altitude grassland, near a river,[1][7] in sandy soils.

[8][11][12] As of 2018 the Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora has not yet rated the conservation status for Brazil, and it is listed as 'not evaluated'.

[6] It was grown ex situ in the Jardim Botânico Plantarum in Nova Odessa, São Paulo, Brazil, by 2009.