| General Description | Small tress with an irregular dense or open crown forming thick grey-green thickets. |
| Cultivation | Fine soils. |
| Habitat | Hills and flats along the coast. |
| Leaf Description | Narrow conical leaves, 3 mm in length. Dense spines a reddish-brown colour in youth, maturing to a greyish green, 6-12 spines per areole, spread in all directions, 1.2-3 cm in length. |
| Flower Description | Beautiful magenta flowers 2.5 cm in diameter, green sepaloids, 6 mm long filaments and yellow anthers 1.5 mm long. |
| Fruit Description | Green fleshy fruit, smooth or slightly tuberculate, broad and 2-3 cm in diameter. |