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"Fishhook Hedgehog Cactus" from northern Argentina (Salta) grows usually as a solitary stem at about 2500m (7625ft.) altitude. It is the smallest Echinopsis known. Depressed globose in shape and growing to ca. 6cm (2.4") in diameter, it is quite rare and very generous in producing its large, long, slender-trumpeted, sweet-scented, day-flowering blooms up to 10cm (4") long. In my greenhouse I found it the most eager to bloom of all my echinopses and the flowers seemed always especially large. At any rate, my heretofore species E. polyancistra has been sunk into subspecies status under E. ancistrophora subsp. ancistrophora following IPSG recommendations.
The subspecies ancistrophora has flowers varying in colour from white to deep reds, yellows and orange, while the three other subspecies, arachnacantha, pojoensis and cardenasiana, have variables in shades of yellow to orange, reds, and violet-pink to red, respectively.