Xerophyte

Description

It is a solitary globular to shortly columnar cactus (rarely clustering forming clumps of a few heads ).

Blooming Season

July – August when summer temperatures are at their maximum.Fruit

Spines

3, curved up to 13 mm long, greyish-white short lived not distinguishable as centrals and radials. Spines often are absent in mature areoles, even in young areoles they are highly reduced and very brittle.

Ribs

10-15 acute, 6-12 mm deep, very pronounced, axil sharp. The deeply indented grooves between its ribs lack the secondary ribs of A. ritteri, and though it shares the transverse grooves, they are smaller and more symmetrically arranged.

Stem

Greyish-green globular and squat, (rarely short columnar) reaching 20 cm by 10 cm in size, apex slightly woolly.

Areoles

Small and very numerous along the edge of each ribs, woolly in youth, up to 4 mm apart.