Description: Its stems are almost completely concealed by fine silvery white and dark-reddish or mahogany colored spines.
Habit: It is a clustering species (rarely solitary) readily forming, especially in cultivation, clumps of many heads.
Flowers: Rarely more than 3.5 cm long and 4.5 in diameter. Bright pink to light purple, numerous in a ring at the base of the plant.
Blooming season: April-May and remain open for up to five days.
Watering Needs: Water moderately in the growing season, keep dry during the winter rest.
Frost Tolerance: Plants are quite frost hardy -5 (10° C). Overwinter in a cool place (at 0/10°C) this is important for the flowers as well as for plants health. Without this cool winter period they normally won't get any buds.
Sun Exposure: Needs a full sun exposure (light shadow may be useful in the hottest summer days).
Propagation: Seed, cutting, grafting.
Some of the information in this description has been found at desert-tropicals.com, llifle.com and cactus-art.biz
