The genus is named after Maximilian Eugen Joseph (1817–1852), Duke of Leuchtenberg and amateur botanist.

After four years or so, yellow, fragrant, funnel-shaped flowers 5–6 cm diameter may be borne at the tubercle tips at the end of the areoles near the body and open during the day.

[2] Leuchtenbergia principis is distributed in the Mexican states of Coahuila, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas in the vegetation of the Chihuahuan Desert on limestone soils.

William Jackson Hooker may have adopted the name Leuchtenbergia principis from Friedrich Ernst Ludwig von Fischer, who was director of the Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden from 1823 to 1850.

Leuchtenbergia principis was listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 1992.