Xerophyte

Central Spines

(3-)4(-6), erect or spreading, straight to slightly curved, all thick and needle-like, sometimes shaggy or twisted, 17-43 mm long, 1 main central terete, straight, porrect, whitish to dark-brown, with golden bulbous base, noticeably projecting, 2-3 others, appressed upward in "bird-foot" pattern, longer whitish, greyish or dark-brown

Seeds

Yellowish to reddish-brown, glossy, spherical to kidney-shaped, 1-1,5 mm long and 1 mm wide.

Description

Coryphantha ramillosaSN|10268]]SN|10403]] is a small cactus species, appearing bristly or shaggy grey, brown, or whitish. Two subspecies are recognized, the typical form and subsp. santarosa Dicht & A.Lüthy.

Roots

Diffuse or strong taproot one-fifth of stem diameter.

Tubercles

Conical, firm, ascending, 6-20 mm long and 6-9 (or more) mm wide, glands usually absent.

Flowers

From young areoles near the apex, funnel shaped, colour varying from pale pink to deep rose purple with darker mid-stripe, glossy, 3.5-6.5 cm long, 3-5 cm in diameter. Outer perianth segments white, entire, upper one-half to one-third pink to purple. Filaments short, white. Anthers pale-yellow to orange. Stile and stigma-lobes white.

Spines

Partially obscuring the stem.

Stem

Deep-seated, hemispheric or spherical to broadly obovoid, often with flattened tips, grass green to dark grey-green, (1-)6-9 cm high, (3-)6-10 cm in diameter and not mucilaginous.

Fruits

Obovoid to spherical or elliptic, dark green to pale grey-green, very fleshy, 10-25 mm long and 20-10 mm wide. Floral remnant persistent.

Habit

It is a perennial stem succulent, predominantly solitary but sometimes branching to form clusters of up to 25 (or more) stems.

Similar Species

It is often difficult to distinguish from Coryphantha macromerisSN|10403]]SN|10268]].

Blooming Season

It flowers opportunistically from August through November. Flowers open during the morning, close before sunset, and do not open again.

Radial Spines

(9-)13-16(-20), whitish or glaucous-greyish, sometime black-speckled, usually straight, sometime curving or twisting, often flattened, radiating like spokes (10-)12-30(-35) mm long.

Areoles

About 3 mm in diameter at first with white wool, becoming linear and extending for 8-20 mm as grooves to axil of tubercles.