Xerophyte

Central Spines

1 (usually absent).

Note

“cangaensis” of flat outcrops of pedra canga (iron oxide ore).

Cephalium

With whitish to yellowish silky hairs.

Flowers

Night blooming, auto-strerile, white and fragrant.

Ribs

10-14, broken up into rounded tubercles,

Stem

Flattened globular, solitary, ca 7 to 14 cm in diameter, light-green to greyish-green.

Radial Spines

5-7(-9), grey, amber, brown or reddish subulate, bent inwards, the lower one the longer, occasionally up to 5 cm long, the lower 2 lateral spines, pointing side-and downwards up to ca. 2 cm long, the 2 (- 4 or more) spines in the upper part of the areole less than 5 mm long.

Areoles

Oval/round, at first heavily woolly. Number of areoles per ribs is 5 to 7 on plants with cephalium.