The west coast prickly apple is characterized by its slender columnar stems that sprawl out from a single base, simple or branched shoots and reaches heights of up to 6 meters.

Thriving best in partial shade, these cacti are often found around larger trees including Live Oaks, Sabal palmetto or Wild Lime.

While once spread through much of southern Florida and the keys, the remaining populations of the cactus can now be found in Sarasota and Lee counties in less than a dozen known locations.

Currently, the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens are working closely with the US Fish & Wildlife Service to try and save it from extinction by cultivating individual cacti to be re-established in their former habitat.

The first description was made in 1920 by John Kunkel Small in Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose's work The Cactaceae.