Kingdom Plantae
Phylum Tracheophyta
Class Dicotyledones
Order Caryophyllales
Family Cactaceae
Genus Astrophytum
Species asterias
The cactus was long ago named Echinocactus asterias by Zuccarini. Over a hundred years ago Lemaire separated some cactus from that genus and put them under the genus Astrophytum. Then, Coulter changed it back to Echinocactus and later on K. Schumann listed Astrophytum as a subgenus of Echinocactus. Recently, most authors have treated Astrophytum as a separate genus.