Xerophyte

Habit

Solitary, slow growing geophyte cactus with tubercles slightly projecting above ground level. The flat tuberous body is below the soil.

Taxonomy

Ariocarpus retususSN|2096]]SN|2079]] is quite variable and has received numerous unnecessary names of no botanical value, representing no more than local phenotypes

Tubercles

Leaf-like, divergent, becoming attenuate at the apices, not fissured, to 4 cm long, usually 2-2.5 times long than wide.

Stem

Grey, or blue-green, flattened, globose, rounded on top, 3-12 cm high, 10-25 (or more) cm in diameter.

Areoles

At the tips of the tubercles, rounded, 1-5 mm in diameter only on younger specimens.