Stems 5-34.5 × 6.3-10 cm; ribs 18-21; areoles 8-14 mm apart along ribs. Spines 14-19 per areole, purplish; radial spines 13-18 per areole; abaxial (shortest) radial spine 6-15 × 0.3-0.5 mm; adaxial and lateral (longest) radial spines 9-25 mm; central spines erect, 1(-2) per areole, 12-29 × 0.4-0.9 mm, longest adaxial central spine straight or sometimes curved toward apex of plant; abaxial or solitary central spine 13-15(-29) mm. Flowers 3.9-7 × 4.4-5.2 cm; inner tepals whitish, pale lavender, or very pale pink, proximally olive green, 2.5-2.7 × 0.6-1 cm; stigma lobes red to dark red, papillae red. 2n = 22.

Flowering Mar-May. Desert grasslands, low gravelly hills and bajadas, igneous and calcareous substrates; 900-1500 m; Ariz.

Echinomastus erectocentrus var. erectocentrus is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.