Xerophyte

Description

This is an heavy clumping (monstrous) cultivar, with small and densely branched heads at the tip of each tubercle.

Axils

Woolly.

Roots

The cuttings form large swollen tuberose roots.

Tubercles

Chunky, about 2-5 cm long (much shorter than in the standard species), grayish-green to bluish-green, triangular in cross-section. They are more long than wide, closely packed, erect and slightly divergent.

Flowers

Never seen.

Spines

The tubercles are topped with papery, flexible spines; central spines 1-2, up to 1-5 cm long; radials 8 to 14, up to 0,5-2,5 cm long;

Stem

The central body branches profusely to form an irregular, crowded, cluster of woolly heads that never get much larger but can slowly fill a 15 cm bowl.

Areoles

At the tip of the tubercle with abundant grey wool.