Xerophyte

Roots

Fine, fibrous.

Flowers

Funnelform, yellow with a red center.

Blooming Season

Flowers appear intermittently throughout the warm months from April to September. Plants may take up to six years to flower.

Spines

Twisted, recurved, sometime forming apical ringlets or small irregularly shaped hooks, yellow to brownish.

Ribs

Usually 5, that increase with age, vertical, regular, deep, prominent, very broad and acute.

Stem

Unbranched, globular to cylindrical, bright green, covered with many white hairy scales spaced and similar in size to those of A. capricorne that give it a silvery-grey appearance. The scales are composed of very fine interwoven hairs, which, under a microscope, are very pretty object. A transverse section reveal a perfect star shaped form (like the common star-fish) giving the plant the appearance of a bishop's mitre.

Areoles

Spaced.