The axillae bear white wool and yellow nectar glands.

The eight to thirteen golden-brown, up to 1.2 centimeter long, marginal spines are spread out, straight and pimpled.

[3] Coryphantha erecta is common on slopes with limestone gravel in the Mexican states of Hidalgo, Guanajuato and Querétaro.

The first description as Mammillaria erecta by Ludwig Georg Karl Pfeiffer was published in 1837.

[4] The specific epithet erecta comes from Latin, means 'upright' and refers to the upright shoots of the plant.