It is one of the dwarfish and more elegant Brazilian tropical specie rarely getting up to 15 cm before maturing and forming a cephalium, (the curious bristly head of the plant, which is a specialised structure in which the flowers and fruits are borne and protected.). Pink buds of flowers sprout around and on top of the cephalium, providing additional colour to the plant.
Some of the information in this description has been found at desert-tropicals.com, llifle.com and cactus-art.biz
