Xerophyte

Central Spines

4 to 7 spreading, thick, 12-16 mm long.

Seeds

Broadly oval.

Description

Eriosyce islayensisSN|1713]]SN|1713]] is a small cactus with very woolly areoles end dark spreading spines, it is indeed very variable and has received many names, but it is clear from fieldworks that the different wild populations constitute a single but multiform species.

Roots

Fibrous.

Flowers

Diurnal, wide funnelform, yellow 1,5-2,5 cm long and in diameter (up to 4 cm in the variant known as grandiflora), born on younger areoles from a yellowish woolly crown in summer. Pericarpel and floral tube short scaly. Scales with tufts of dense wool and long reddish bristles. Inner perianth segments yellow, outer perianth segments often reddish. Style yellow.

Spines

Variable in size and in colour and usually scarcely differentiated into centrals and radials, horn-coloured, dark reddish-brown to shiny black in the centre changing to grey with age, but shading to grey-black towards their tips.

Ribs

(12-)19-21(-25) low and obtuse and more or less tuberculate.

Stem

Globose to short-cylindrical, grey-green, 5 to15 cm tall (rarely up to 70 cm tall), 5-10(-20) cm in diameter. Apex densely woolly.

Radial Spines

12 to 22, shorter, radiating, (1-)6-10 mm long.

Fruits

Characteristic, up to 5 cm long, club shaped, balloon-like, pinkish to red, when mature inflated, openings by basal pores. Pericarp initially fleshy but the interior always dry when mature.

Areoles

Approximate, large, conspicuously woolly, with creamy-white to grey-brown felt.