[3] The species is endemic to Mexico; the more widely distributed subspecies latispinus ranges from southeastern Durango, through Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, east to the western parts of San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo and Puebla, as well as to eastern Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Mexico State.

[3] This species is typically found under nurse plants like tree canopies and shrubs.

Plants are found growing in oak forest, grasslands, silt flats, and in rocky outcrops at elevations of 600 to 2,600 metres (2,000 to 8,500 ft).

[5] Originally described as Cactus latispinus in 1824 by English naturalist Adrian Hardy Haworth, it gained its current name in 1922 with the erection of the genus Ferocactus by American botanists Britton and Rose.

[2] The slime mold, Didymium wildpretii feeds on the decaying remains of F. latispinus in Mexico.