Xerophyte

Leaves

Slender, subulate, pointed, constricted at the base, 4 mm long, early deciduous.

Seeds

3,5.

Note

'pachypus' Greek 'pachys', παχυϛ = "thick"; and Greek 'pous' πουϛ, ποδοϛ = "foot", for the long thickened pericarpel of the flower. K. Schumann indicated at the end of its original description thatStems. Cylindrical, bright to dark green, 3 to 8 cm in diameter, branching from above, either straight or curved, marked with broad, numerous, spiraling, rhomboid tubercles, with spines throughout.

Flowers

Rather small, diurnal, developing near the tips of the plant, bright scarlet, or dark orange, 2-4.5 cm in diameter and 7 cm long, including the ovary. Pericarpels like short branches more or less spiny. Tepals variable, the longest ones 1.4 cm. long. Style very thick, 9 mm long

Blooming Season

Summer. Blooms are rarely seen in cultivation.Seeds Nearly spherical, 3.5 mm in diameter.

Spines

20 to 30, subulate, wiry, yellowish-white becoming grey with age, of variable size up to 20 mm long, some small, very short, bent backward, (0.5 cm long). Occasionally with few longer powerful centrals up to 25 mm long, the largest spines directed downward.

Fruits

Sometimes the plant produces fruits without seeds, which can then proliferate forming a chain and root as they fall to the ground.

Areoles

Large, circular, about 4 mm in diameter, white felted, closely set, borne at the upper edges of the tubercles and somewhat sunken.