Native to a large area of the American Southwest and northern Mexico, Ferocactus contains about 30 - 35 species. Globular at first, many Ferocacti don't take on the classic ribbed barrel shape until several years old. Some can reach heights of 5 feet or more after many decades of growth. All are magnificently spined and the spines are often brilliantly colored yellow, gold or red and mixtures of these. Ferocacti require full sun to flower reliably but young specimens must be carefully acclimatized or they can burn. At various times of year, depending on species, Ferocacti produce pink, yellow, red or purple flowers.
    Ferocacti are not difficult to grow, standard cacti mix is suitable as long as it drains well. You can water regularly in the heat of summer and sparingly in winter. If grown in a pot it may take some years for the plant to reach flowering size. Most Ferocacti are instead used as landscape specimens where they can grow much faster.
    As I'm a great fan of gnarly spination, Ferocactus is one of my favorite genera of cacti.

I have several varieties of Ferocactus. Click a thumbnail below to go to a page about that plant.
Ferocactus gracilis	Ferocactus latispinus	Ferocactus emoryi	Ferocactus wislizenii
Ferocactus glaucescens	Ferocactus chrysacanthus	Ferocactus rectispinus	Ferocactus hamatacanthus
Ferocactus cylindraceus	Ferocactus robustus	Ferocactus macrodiscus	Ferocactus santa-maria
Ferocactus pilosus var. pringlei