Xerophyte

Central Spines

None or 1 to 3 stouter, somewhat curved.

Description

Small cactus with a much flattened usually solitary body (sometime forms small few branched clumps).

Flowers

About 4 to 8 cm broad, near the plant apex, rotate-campanulate, scarlet to deep red. Inner perianth segments dbroad, obtuse, the outer one greenish or whitish, stamen and stile much shorter than the perianth-segments. The flower's tube is covered by hairy lanceolate-acute scales with hairy axils.

Ribs

It has 20 ribs spirally arranged, irregular and oblique, with raised to acute tubercles between which the areoles appear.

Stem

Glossy dark green, spherical broader than high, deprssed and unarmed at apex, up to 15 cm in diameter.

Radial Spines

8-10, about 1-2 cm long, arranged like little spiders, more or less curved backward, acicular, slender, brownish, turn greyish eventually.

Areoles

Rounded with short whitish felt.