It is native to the central and south-central United States and northern Mexico, where it can be found in varied habitat types, including desert scrub, woodlands, dry grasslands, and short-grass prairie.

The spines may be red, yellow, white, purplish, or bicolored, sometimes with darker tips and are up to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) long.

The flower is up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long and has tepals in shades of yellowish, brownish, greenish, or occasionally red, with darker reddish midstripes.

[5] These species share small seeds, basal nectaral tissue, and flowers that are yellow/brown and less than 4 cm in length.

This rare variety is endemic to Brewster County, Texas, where it grows in beds of Selaginella in rocky soils of novaculite origin.