[3] Myrtillocactus cochal grows in the form of a shrub to a tree with richly branched, blue-green branches, reaches a height of 1 to 3 meters and usually forms a short trunk with 6 to 8 ribs.

Areoles are 1-3 cm apart with a single, black central spine, which can occasionally be absent, is up to 2 cm long and5 radial spines are grayish or blackish and 5 - 10 mm long.

The light greenish white flowers have a darker central stripe, are 2.5 cm long and have the same diameter.

[6] The first description as Cereus cochal was published in 1889 by Charles Russell Orcutt.

[7] Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus Myrtillocactus in 1909.