| General Description | Small tree or shrub with prominent tubercles, its spines are densely grouped together and is especially painful when touched. |
| Cultivation | Gravelly or sandy soils. |
| Habitat | Hills, flats, valleys and plains in grasslands at an altitude of 1,200-1,800 m. |
| Leaf Description | Straight red or pink spines, 10-30 per areole and spread in all directions, 1.2-3 cm in length. |
| Flower Description | 5-7.5 cm in diameter, reddish-purple in colour, narrow and obovate. Filaments are a purplish-green and 6 mm long with yellow anthers. |
| Fruit Description | Yellow fleshy fruit, spineless and obovoid, 2.5-4.5 cm in length and 2-3 cm in diameter. |