Xerophyte

Central Spines

1 - 4, yellowish brown to (often) dark brown, 12 - 25 mm long, the longest one usually hooked.

Seeds

Black, shining, pitted, globose 0,8-1 mm in diameter.

Description

Plants are solitary or budding either basally or near the middle, often cespitose, but in small clusters (but sometime they can form clusters of many individuals). This species is quite common in habitat, but variable throughout the region.

Roots

Thickened.

Tubercles

Ovoid to cylindrical, often four-angled, corky when old . The axil is naked.

Flowers

The flower is large for the genus, broadly funnel-form, pink to lavender pink to reddish purple, sometimes white with a deeper central stripe, 20 - 45 mm in diameter. Tepals, obovate, acuminate, stile longer than stamens, purplish, stigma lobes 7-8, linear, green.They grow just below the top of the cactus and sometimes form perfect, crown-like rings. The number of flowers produced by an individual plant depends largely on plant volume.

Blooming Season

Flowers in the early summer and a plant can produce two or three batches of flowers. Individual flowers normally live one day, but can open a second day when pollination is inadequate.

Stem

Globose to short cylindrical, light green, 7 - 15 cm or more in height, 7.5 - 11 cm in diameter without latex.

Radial Spines

20 - 35, straight, glabrous, needle-like, interlacing, so dense that it is difficult to see the stem body underneath, white to greyish to light brown to reddish, 6 - 12 mm long, lateral ones longest.

Fruits

Clavate, slightly fleshy, bright red, 12 - 25 mm long.