[4][7] Kelen Pureza Soares in his 2015 monograph on the genus Butia gives a height of 1-4m and a trunk diameter of 15–18 cm.

[10][11] The pistillate (female) flowers are more or less globose (round), 5–6mm in length, and with sepals and petals about equal in size.

[6] It is the only species of Butia without teeth or spines on the petiole which has purple-coloured spathes, flowers and fruit (at maturity).

[10] Glassman in 1979 considered it superficially similar to B. capitata (which included B. odorata at the time), differing primarily from that by the lack of teeth along the margins of the petioles, the long acuminate tips of the pinnae (leaflets) as opposed to obtuse or acute, and the generally purplish spathes, spadices, flowers and fruit.

He considered it closely related to B. archeri due to the similar pinnae, the lack of teeth on the petioles, and sizes and shapes of its fruit and flowers, yet differing in always possessing an above-ground trunk, in its larger dimensions of leaves and inflorescences, and in the purplish colour of its flowers and fruit.

Up until 2018, many publications state that this species is endemic to southwestern Goiás, but it was collected in Minas Gerais already in 1987, and as of 2018, with further sampling of the flora, its known range has expanded considerably.

[1] In Cavalcante it occurs in cerrado plains sensu stricto, in places with well-drained soils and usually sparse tree cover.

Female floral anthesis shows no correlation with climate, although significant differences exist between sites.

[13] In its native palm groves near Jataí the fruit is harvested and gathered from the wild, commonly for use to make locally consumed juices.

[7] Among the Kalunga of the village of Engenho II in Cavalcante, Goiás, one person has used the leaves as incense in semi-Catholic rituals.

[13] Noblick, writing for the IUCN in 1998, mentioned high seed predation by 'bean weevils' as a possible threat to the species, and due to this and its limited range classified it as 'vulnerable'.

[1] In 2012 the Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora rated the conservation status for Brazil as 'endangered', primarily due to an already restricted distribution and habitat loss due to the many decades of ongoing mining and the pressure of agricultural expansion, as well as the gathering of fruit by local people and tourists, and a high juvenile mortality (see ecology section above).

[4] In a 2017 dissertation by Marcelo Piske Eslabão he advocates considering the species as 'critically endangered' as the IUCN categories B1ab(i, ii, iii) and B2ab(i, ii, iii) applied, although Eslabão does not adequately explain which criteria exactly applies, as some clearly do not (B1 (EOO (see distribution section above) below 100 km2) and B2 (AOO below 10 km2).

Eslabão elaborates that intense overexploitation of the leaves for broom construction is causing very apparent alterations and excessive mortality in many populations.

[14] Martins also relates how the continual leaf extraction results in reduced plant size and an altered look to the palms.

[7] Much of the region in which it grows has been converted to use for agricultural activities such as cattle, corn, soybean and increasingly sugar cane.

The palm groves also show ecological disturbances in the form of infestation by invasive grasses and fires.

[7] A portion of the population is protected within the confines of a military reservation (41º BIMTZ),[1][4] although it does not occur in any official conservation areas.