[2] Cleistocactus laniceps grows as a shrub with several shoots and reaches a height of up to 4 meters with a diameter of up to 5 centimetres.

The spherical, red, densely woolly fruits are no larger than 1 centimeter in diameter.

[3] Cleistocactus laniceps is distributed in the Bolivian departments of La Paz and Cochabamba in the Yungas at altitudes of 1300 to 2500 meters.

The first description as Cereus laniceps was in 1897 by Karl Moritz Schumann.

[4] The specific epithet laniceps is derived from the Latin words lana for 'wool' and -ceps for 'head' and refers to the heavily woolly areoles of the species.