Xerophyte

Central Spines

4 - 7, usually 6, pinkish to brown with darker tips, to 8 mm long.

Seeds

Light brown.

Roots

Fibrous.

Tubercles

Crowded, pyramidal, with latex, arranged in numerous, very close-set spirals. The Axil is woolly with white wool especially in the floriferous portion.

Flowers

Diurnal, funnel-form, dull white to light pink about 10 - 15 cm in diameter. Blooms adorn the crown of the plant, usually in a ring, in the growth of the previous year.

Blooming Season

Spring to summer.

Stem

Symmetrically globose at first, later cylindrical, with a depressed apex, 5 - 20 cm high, up to 10 (or more) cm in diameter. Light green,and may, with age, become rubberized at its base.

Radial Spines

20 - 22, sometimes absent, thin, needle- or bristle-like, sometimes flattened, somewhat horizontal radiating and arranged laterally on each side of the tubercle, white, 3 - 6 mm long.

Fruits

Attractively deep dull pinkish-red coloured .Club-shaped.

Areoles

Oval and woolly when young.