Plant forming dense mats of 10-50 bodies. Sheath whitish or translucent yellow, flaking but persistent; bodies 6-20(!) x 5-18 x 5-18 mm, obconical, apically convex or truncate; epidermis half-glabrous, pale yellowish-green to deep green (red or purple when newly exposed), beset with numerous minutely papillate translucent blisters, these 0.5-2.0 mm in diam., sometimes arranged in rows; fissure small, to 2 mm long, papillate, hardly gaping. Flowers autumnal, diurnal, often scented. Calyx-tube 2-4 mm long with 4-5 blistered green sepals 2-3 mm long; corolla-tube white or pale pink, 8-12 mm long, petals to 55 in 2(-4) series, to 15 x 2 mm, pink or rarely white, stamens ca. 25, anthers reaching the tube mouth; style 4-8 mm long with 4-5 stigmas of about equal length. Capsule 4-5-locular, 2 x 4 mm, depressed obovate, whitish, scaly, seeds 0.60 x 0.50 x 0.35 mm (to 25% smaller or larger in some forms), slightly wrinkled, papillate.
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