Solitary or clumping greenish cactus with bright yellow flowers up to 5 inches wide. The flowers appear near the tips and are fragrant. Stems are gray-green to reddish green with 5-11 ribs, 0-4 central spines, and 0-10 radial spines. They grow 1.5-6 inches wide, a couple of inches to a foot tall.

From arid northwestern Mexico. Two subspecies have been described. Alicoche (Echinocereus subinermis subsp. subinermis) (Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua) is often solitary or sparingly branched, sometimes spineless, with 5-9 ribs and a slightly woolly floral tube. Alicoche (Echinocereus subinermis subsp. ochoterenae) (southern Sinaloa) usually clumps, is never spineless, with 8-11 ribs and a very woolly floral tube.

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