Xerophyte

Habit

Plants simple.

Central Spines

4, forming a cross, reddish with yellow tips, greyish or brown, the lower one flattened, strongly hooked, annulate.

Seeds

1,2-2 mm long, brown to black, noticeably reticulate.

Flowers

Broadly funnelform, 5-6 cm long red to yellow with orange to red midveins.

Blooming Season

Spring to autumn.

Ribs

12 to 20, prominent, acute.

Stem

Unbranched, erect, up to 2,5 meters high (but usually about 70 cm), up to 40 across. Spherical, ovoid, clavate to cylindric to tapering toward the apex dark blue-green.

Radial Spines

6-13 (usually more than 10) brownish or white, spreading, variable, straight, slender, terete, more or less annulate, the lower ones stouter and more colored, sometimes twisted and bristle-like.

Fruits

Globose, yellowish, 2,5-3,5 cm long, bearing broad rounded scales.

Areoles

Young areoles brown-felted, circular up to 20 mm long, constricted between the flower and the spine-bearing section, 4 cm apart or even less in old plants.