Habit: Erect or leaning, branches 0, occasionally branched from tip-injury.
Stem: (0)10--200(300) cm, 10--35 cm diam, depressed-spheric to short-columnar, hard, glabrous, not segmented; ribs 13--31, prominent; tubercles not conspicuous on ribs.
Spines: [6]10--32 per areole, 2--4.5 mm wide, generally awl-shaped, generally flat, ringed with conspicuous ridges, straight to curved or +- hooked, some bristle-like; central spines generally 4 per areole.
Flower: +- terminal, near distal edge of spine cluster, 3--6 cm diam; perianth yellow to red [or purple, or white with +- purple midstripes]; ovary glabrous, spines 0, scales numerous, generally rounded, margins minutely fringed or toothed.
Fruit: spheric, ovoid, or cylindric, glabrous, spineless, dehiscent by basal pore.
Seed: [1]1.5--3 mm, spheric to subreniform, pitted, black.
Species In Genus: 25 species: southwestern United States, Mexico.
Etymology: (Latin: fierce cactus)
Jepson eFlora Author: Bruce D. Parfitt
Reference: Taylor 1984 Bradleya 2:19--38
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Ferocactus
Previous taxon: Escobaria vivipara var. roseaNext taxon: Ferocactus cylindraceus