Cleistocactus parviflorus grows as a shrub with upright, green shoots that are slightly branched at the base and reaches heights of up to 3 meters with diameters of up to 4 centimeters.

[2] Cleistocactus parviflorus is widespread in the Bolivian departments of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba at altitudes of 1400 to 3000 meters.

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

[3] The specific epithet 'parviflorus' is derived from the Latin words parvus for 'small' and -florus for '-flowered'.

Robert Roland-Gosselin placed the species in the genus Cleistocactus in 1904.