[2] Echinocereus brandegeei grows with multiple shoots, forming large, loose clumps up to 2 meters in diameter.

The light green, cylindrical shoots vary in size, creeping at their base with upright tips.

Each shoot has eight to ten sharply angular ribs and is densely covered with thorns ranging in color from white to black.

[4] Originally described as Cereus brandegeei by John Merle Coulter in 1896, the species was later placed in the genus Echinocereus by Karl Moritz Schumann in 1898.

[5] The specific epithet honors American botanist and plant collector Townshend Stith Brandegee.