Plants unbranched or sometimes forming loose clumps of fewer than 20 somewhat flaccid branches. Stems erect or slightly decumbent, ovoid to cylindric with age, 7.5-17(-30) × (3.3-)3.8-7.5(-10) cm; ribs 8-11(-13), crests uninterrupted or undulate (sometimes depth of sinus between areoles is 90% of rib height in flowering plants with juvenile stem morphology); areoles (12-)15-17(-25) mm apart. Spines (2-)4-12(-16) per areole, straight or curved (radial spines sometimes sinuous); radial spines spreading, opaquely white, commonly with dark stripe on underside, often with contrasting black or brown spines in same areoles (rarely all brown or all white), aging gray; radial spines (2-)4-10(-12) per areole, (8-)11-39 mm; central spines (0-)1(-3) per areole, porrect or ascending, if curved, then usually directed upward, (10-)25-42(-62) mm, abaxial central spine like others in color or darker, flat to sharply angled. Flowers 5-11 × 5-11 cm; flower tube 10-15 × 10-30 mm; flower tube hairs 1-2 mm; inner tepals magenta [or nearly white], proximally sometimes darker or purplish maroon, 30-70 × (9.5-)12-15 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate; anthers yellow; nectar chamber (2-)3.5-6(-8) mm. Fruits bright red, dull carmine, or purplish maroon, less often orange-tan or purplish orange, 20-30(-50) mm, pulp magenta or red. 2n = 22.
Semi-desert scrub, grasslands and pine-juniper woodland, on sandy, gravelly soils of grasslands and woodlands, and on edges of deserts; at elevations from 30-2,400 metres.
Home