Large, slow-growing spiny plant with a bottle-shaped stem, growing tree-like with age. Rare in cultivation and in habitat (the Tehuacán Valley of Puebla and Oaxaca in south-central Mexico). There is a fabulous group of old plants in the Oaxaca Ethnobotanical Garden.

Prized for its unusual and distinctive caudex, which is perhaps most like F. fasciculata, among the Fouquierias, at least when young. As the plant becomes more treelike, it begins to more closely resemble F. columnaris. White flowers. Hypocotyl is enlarged and tan colored.

Like other species in the genus, growth is strongly seasonal (beginning in spring), though the plant enjoys year round water in mild climates, even when leafless. Provide good drainage and strong light for best form, water more often when in leaf.

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