Xerophyte

Description

Usually solitary, clustering only after many years, from the base. Even the young seedlings may be immediately distinguished from the other Thelocacti

Roots

Tuberose swollen.

Note

At the base the plant body has a very thin collar that cannot bear the weight of the stem, so eventually it grows lying on the ground. (it is a good hanging like Thelocactus)

Flowers

2,5-3 cm long, 35-75 mm wide, magenta, with paler throat. They appear in the spring.

Spines

Central spines 4-5, 10-26 mm long, white to black, straight, acicular. Radial spines 20-25, 12-15 mm long, white, straight, acicular.

Ribs

Approx. 18 vertical or spiralling divided into rounded tubercles sometimes with or sometimes without extrafloral nectaries.

Stem

Cylindrical cereoid, erect or decumbent, yellowish green, 10-40 cm tall, 2,5-5 cm in diameter