The murumuru palm (Astrocaryum murumuru) is abundant in the Brazilian Amazon, extending to the borders of Bolivia and Peru. It prefers to grow in periodically flooded areas, especially on islands and in lowlands along the rivers throughout the Amazon River estuary and its tributaries, in dense or semi-open forests. It is also frequently found in the lowlands of Marajo Island. The stem, leaves, and stalk of fruits are covered with black, hard and tough spines that can reach over 20 cm in length, which makes harvesting the fruits difficult.

When the fruit is ripe, the inflorescence falls to the ground. The fruit contains a yellow flesh that is highly appreciated by rodents as food, which leaves the seeds clean. The seed has a hard shell and only in its dry state is it possible to separate the shell from the kernel of the seed. In general, 100 kg of dry seeds (12%–15% water) yields 27 kg to 29 kg of kernels that must be further dried until they contain 5% to 6% water, which prevents their deterioration during storage. From these kernels, 40% to 42% oil can be obtained. One single murumuru palm produces about 11 kg of dry seeds. Hydraulic extraction can produce 35% oil relative to the dry weight of the kernel, which is equivalent to about 3.8 liters of oil per murumuru palm. The kernels must be ground using grinding discs before the hydraulic extraction process occurs because they are hard.

A kilogram of fruit pulp contains approximately 50 seeds. Seed germination is moderate and growth in the field is slow.