This plant is oval to club-shaped and has 12 to 20 showy, deep ribs.

The funnel-shaped flowers are red to yellow and reach a length of 5–6 centimetres (2.0–2.4 in).

[2] Ferocactus peninsulae is found in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur growing on sandy hillsides at an elevation of 0 to 450 meters.

Plants grow in association with Mammillaria dioica, Cochemiea setispina, Echinocereus ferreirianus and Lophocereus schottii[3] In 1896, Frédéric Albert Constantin Weber first described this species as Echinocactus peninsulae.

Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose transferred the species to the genus Ferocactus in 1922.