Missouri Foxtail Cactus

Pelecyphora missouriensis grows up to 30 centimetres (12 in) high and forms clumps to 3.8–30 centimetres (1.5–11.8 in) or greater in diameter. They are generally larger in the Southwest. The plants are primarily unbranched, except eastern populations that can be profusely branched. The warts are elongated and up to 18 millimeters long. There are 10 to 20 spines that are bright white, pale gray, or pale tan, weathering to gray or yellowish brown. The plant blooms in April to June, with flowers that are pale greenish yellow to yellow-green with midstripes of green or rose-pink to pale brown, flowers are 2.5 to 6.2 centimeters long and in diameter. The red fruits are 1 to 2 centimeters long. Pelecyphora missouriensis has been extirpated from many of its historically known sites by introduced fire ants, suburban development, brush encroachment following fire suppression, and over-grazing.

It is found in along the Missouri River in the tallgrass prairie and shortgrass Great Plains, from Texas to Montana and the Dakotas, and in the Rocky Mountains woodlands of Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), pinyon-juniper, and Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) west of it. It is also native to the Southwestern United States in Idaho, Kansas,Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah and Mexico in the states of Coahuila and Nuevo León.