A shrub up to 1 m tall, branches cobwebby, narrowly winged, leafy. Leaves up to 5 x 1 cm, rigid, lanceolate-acuminate, spine-tipped, all but the uppermost with 1 or 2 pairs of narrowly triangular, spine-tipped lobes in the lower half, sessile, clasping, decurrent on the stem in narrow wings, margins ciliate-spinescent, upper surface cobwebby at first, later glabrous, lower white-felted. Heads commonly discoid, rarely radiate, 2-3 cm across the disc, solitary or occasionally paired at the tips of the branchlets. Involucral bracts lanceolate, up to c. 2.5 mm broad, margins and tip spiny, white-felted. Flowers yellow. Achenes 3-4 mm long, turbinate, glabrous. Pappus scales c. 0.5 mm long, obtuse.
Shrub, up to 1 m high. Stems narrowly winged. Leaves rigid, lanceolate, acuminate, spine-tipped, all but the uppermost with 1 or 2 pairs of narrowly triangular, spine-tipped lobes in lower half, sessile, lower surface white-felted. Heads discoid, rarely radiate. Flowers yellow.