From central and northern Mexico and Texas, Thelocactus bicolor is a solitary globular cacti to 6 inches high and 4 inches across. Its beautiful thin spines are two toned amber and red and probably responsible for the name. The flowers are very similar to T. heterochromous and are produced in spring and summer. Thelocactus bicolor var. schottii is now considered synonomous with T. bicolor but a significant difference is that the topmost radial spine is long and papery.
     I have two of the standard T. bicolors one potted and one in the garden, and also a T. bicolor schotti. The standard bicolors have given me several flushes of flowers but the one flower the T. bicolor schottii put out was so confined by the papery spines it never opened satisfactorily. Click below for more pictures.

T. bicolor var. schottii	First flowers	Another flower	At Tucson Botanical Gardens
Now the one in the garden	Even closer	Closer still