Xerophyte

Habit

It forms low, loose mounds of 5-30 stems up to 50 cm tall , width 1 metre branching at or before sexual maturation.

Central Spines

1 to 3 per areole, very long, straight, erect, thin and flexible, mostlty descending, white to straw-yellow becoming grey, often brown to black especially at bases or tips, 1,5-10 (or more) cm long. (The standard Echinocereus bonkeraeSN|18748]]SN|18744]] has shorter spines usually less than 1 cm long).

Flowers

Borne on the upper half of the stems just below the shoot tips, very showy, broadly funnelform, relatively large magenta to deep purple-pink, 5-7 cm long and 4-9 cm in diameter. Flower tube 12-20 long 10-30 mm in cross section with hairs up to 1 mm long. Inner perianth segments deep magenta (to dark purple) with darker midstripes, basally very dark purple, 20-60 × 8.5-20 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate. Anthers yellow; nectar chamber 2-4 mm. There is also variation in flower shape, some plants having more E.engelmannii-like bell-shaped flowers, but mostly they are more of a trumpet shape.

Blooming Season

Spring (in habitat Mar-May); fruiting 2 months after flowering.

Chromosome Number

2n = 22.

Ribs

12-18, low, not distinctly tuberculate.

Stem

Ovoid to Cylindrical, mostly erect, green, up to 50 cm long, 4-6 cm in diameter, with spines not obscuring the stems.

Radial Spines

12-16, whitish, yellowish or brown, often becoming grey, spreading to almost pectinately arranged, all straight, 5-15 mm long.

Fruits

Globose to egg shaped, 10-25 mm long and in diameter, green, becoming red or orange red, fleshy. pulp white or pale pink.

Areoles

8-20 mm apart.