Xerophyte

Central Spines

6 to 8 produced only in mature specimens, up to 2,5 cm long, thin, bristle-like, often tangled and bent at the apex, whitish-yellow, light brownish with darker tips, later becoming grey.

Seeds

1,3-1,5 mm long ad 0,8-1,2 mm broad, pyrform to cap shaped, glossy, black-dark brown.

Roots

Tuberous.

Tubercles

Mostly round-shaped and broad, more or less in relief and narrow.

Flowers

From the young areoles at the apex among the spines, 3-4,5 cm in diameter, funnel-shaped with about 15-20 tepals. Pericarpel cup-shaped narrowing between the pericarpel and receptacle with few scales. Outer perianth segments obovate to lanceolate, olive-brownish to pale pink with purple-brownish mid-stripe. Inner perianth segments more lanceolate 12-18 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, white with purple-pink mid-stripe. Stamens 60-100, filaments creamy coloured anthers yellow. Style pinkish. Stigma divided into 4-5 white lobes.

Blooming Season

It flowers several times per year.

Ribs

Not clearly defined and tubercled.

Stem

Up to 4 cm tall and wide, single or (usually) offsetting from the base, globular to slightly cylindrical.

Radial Spines

About 14-17 pectinate, white, short, present only on seedlings and young offsets and progressively disappearing in older stems.

Fruits

About 5-6 mm long an3-4 mm diameter oval to barrel-shaped, greenish becoming olive-brownish when ripe. Dehishing lengthways at maturity, with about 20-30 seeds.

Areoles

White, woolly becoming bare as they ages. Clearly elongated in seedlings almost round in older specimens.