Erect shrub to 3 (–4) m high, to 5 diam., occasionally with short trunk to 25 cm diam. Stem segments firmly attached, narrowly obovate, obovate to elliptic, 9–32 cm long, 4–14 cm wide, 20–28 (–40) mm thick, compressed, not tuberculate, green, often with reddish purple blotches along the margin of stem segment and around areoles, glossy, glabrous. Areoles 12–32 per stem segment face, 18–55 mm apart, circular or subcircular to elliptic, 3–5.5 mm long, 2.5–5.5 mm wide, not raised, with wool off-white, ageing grey. Leaves succulent, terete, conical or elongate-conical, 3.5–6 mm long, caducous. Spines absent or 1 (2) per areole, confined to the upper half of stem-segment or irregularly dispersed, antrorse or variously spreading, 7–48 mm long, 0.7–1.2 mm wide at base, terete, straight or slightly curved near apex, usually stout, not barbed, dark red-brown or reddish purple with yellowish apex, ageing greyish brown or pale grey. Glochids few in a dense tuft, inconspicuous, 0.7–1.2 mm long, reddish brown. Flowers (35–) 50–95 mm diam.; outer tepals distinctly crimson tinged, succulent, obovate, the apex acute; inner tepals yellow or orange, often reddish-tinged mostly toward the apex, spreading to suberect, broad-obovate to obovate, 25–40 mm long, 15–23 mm wide, the apex obtuse and entire; staminal filaments very pale yellow, anthers pale yellow; style very pale yellow, stigma lobes green; pericarpel (at anthesis) not tuberculate, spineless. Fruit solitary, narrow-obovoid, obovoid, obconic or ovoid, (45–) 60–90 mm long, 18–30 mm diam., umbilicus shallow, not tuberculate, spineless, carmine at maturity, succulent and juicy, edible. Seeds fertile, ± flattened, 3–5 mm long, beige.
Naturalised across a wide range of semi-arid shrubland, open woodland, grassland areas (e.g. Astrebla grassland in Queensland) in Australia, but also along degraded roadsides, railway-line embankments, homesteads, stream banks and flats, and dry slopes.
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It is a subtropical plant. In Argentina it grows below 500 m above sea level.
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