Xerophyte

Seeds

Bell shaped, 0.8(-2?) mm long and 0.8 mm thick, glossy reddish-black or black.

Flowers

Large, funnelform, citron-yellow, 4 cm long, when fully expanded broader than long. Perianth-segments oblanceolate to spatulate, obtuse, serrate above. Stamens numerous, short. Style slender, longer than the stamens; stigma-lobes 12 to 17, linear, white, recurved. Scales on the ovary numerous, linear, purplish, with wool and bristles in their axils.

Spines

3 to 7(-8), spreading, acicular, curved, white or brownish, the longer one 4 cm long.

Ribs

Usually 16, acute, somewhat crenate.

Stem

Globose to depressed or sometimes cylindric, sometimes up to 1.7 meters high and up to 30 cm thick.

Fruits

Short oblong, 2.5 cm long, 2 cm. in diameter.

Areoles

Small, circular.