Ferocactus pilosus grows singly or forms large clumps, reaching heights up to 3 meters with diameters of 50 cm (20 in).

It has 13 to 20 non-humped ribs, initially sharp-edged in young plants and later becoming rounded.

[2] The cactus is endemic to the Chihuahuan Desert, located in northeastern Mexico.

[3] It is native to the Méxican states of Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas, found growing on rocky limestone slopes.

[4][5] First described as Echinocactus pilosus in 1850 by Henri Guillaume Galeotti in Joseph zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck's Cacteae in horto Dyckensi cultae anno 1849, the specific epithet pilosus, meaning 'hairy' in Latin, refers to the species' thorns.