Plants commonly 20-100(-500)-branched, loosely aggregated into clumps or tightly packed into rounded mounds, to 100 cm diam. Stems erect, cylindric (or spheric), 5-40 × 4-15 cm; ribs (5-)6-14, crests slightly (or conspicuously) undulate; areoles 10-20(-42) mm apart. Spines (1-)5-16(-22) per areole, mostly straight except on unusually long-spined individuals, ashy white to gray, brown, yellowish, reddish, or black, often dark tipped; radial spines (1-)4-13(-18) per areole, appressed to slightly projecting, (3-)5-40(-49) mm; central spines 0-6 per areole, spreading to projecting outward, terete (to angular), (5-)10-80 mm. Flowers unisexual, (2.5-)3.8-8(-9) × (1.5-)3-7 cm; flower tube (12-)15-40 × 8-30 mm; flower tube hairs usually 1-2 mm; inner tepals crimson or scarlet, less often orange-red (very rarely rose-pink), with or without whitish or yellowish (or pink) proximal portion, usually 14-40 × 5-16 mm, tips thick and rigid; anthers usually pink or purple (rarely yellow); nectar chamber 4-10 mm (longer if measurement includes tube formed by connate stamen bases). Fruits greenish or yellowish to pinkish, bright red or brownish tinged, 20-40(-72) mm or less, pulp white. 2n = 44.
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A spiny cactus. They form mounds. These can be 1 m across. The stems are 7 cm across and the offsets form clusters 35 cm across. There are 5-12 ribs. The flowers are red. They are funnel shaped.
Chihuahuan Desert, desert scrub, desert grasslands, pinyon-juniper and oak woodlands, Great Plains grasslands, montane forest, bajadas, rocky slopes, and cliffs, igneous, metamorphic, and limestone substrates; at elevations from 150-2,700 metres
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It is a temperate plant. It can tolerate temperatures down to-10°C if dry. It grows best in light to medium, well drained soils. It needs an open sunny position.
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