Xerophyte

Habit

Solitary and strongly armed cactus. Rarely clustering after many years, from the base.

Tubercles

Thick but low, often wider than long, sometimes 4 cm. wide; flowering groove rather conspicuous but narrow, extending from spines to about half-way to axil of tubercle;

Flowers

Bright white with a characteristic silky shine. Filaments whitish, anthers honey/yellow, style yellowish, stigma lobes yellowish.

Spines

It has 1-3 reddish-white-brown central spines with sharp yellowish-crimson tips, the longer ones up to 8 cm, and 6-8 reddish-white brown radial spines per areole. Ascending from and curved outward from middle, terete and somewhat angled at base. The spines are often highly coloured and maintain that bright tint on at least part of the spines for a long time but bleach out to a pale grey-brown as they became older.

Stem

Depressed-globose, 8 to 12 cm broad, grey to bluish-green, covered by a glaucous/grey pruina.