Xerophyte

Description

Very large and spiny cactus, solitary or branched. The body is almost concealed by the spines.

Note

The fruit has a whitish mucilaginous pulp and is edible with a fresh and agreeable taste

Flowers

Lateral or basal, 7-10 cm. long, funnel-shaped, and have a slender, curved tube covered with long white hairs. Perianth segments are short usually creamy-white but can be of almost any colour.

Spines

Radials are hard to tell from the central spines. Each areole bears approx 4 to 15 spines ranging from slender to thick, conical with a wider base, and irregular in length, the longest up to 8 cm or more. They are flexible and slightly curved upward to almost straight. Their colour varies from yellowish to brown when young but later grey.

Ribs

25 to 50 ribs deeply incised between the tubercles, which are approx. 2 cm long.

Stem

Bluish-green, spherical at first and later sort cylindrical, and may grow 25 cm tall and 10-40 cm in diameter.

Fruits

Globular, dark green with flowers remnants.