Annuals or biennials, 20–350 cm; taprooted. Stems usually 1, erect, simple or branched in distal 1/2, loosely to densely villous or viscid-pilose with jointed trichomes, often arachnoid below heads; branches 0–many, ascending. Leaves: blades oblong to elliptic or oblanceolate, 15–35 × 2–10 cm, flat to ± undulate, coarsely dentate to shallowly pinnatifid, lobes broadly triangular, spinulose to spiny-dentate or shallowly lobed, main spines slender. 3–7 mm, abaxial faces thinly gray-tomentose, villous along major veins, sometimes glabrescent, adaxial sparsely villous or viscid-pilose along midveins with jointed trichomes; basal often absent at flowering, spiny winged-petiolate; principal cauline well distributed, gradually reduced, proximal winged-petiolate, mid and distal sessile, bases clasping or short-decurrent; distal moderately to strongly reduced, often spinier than the proximal. Heads 1–many, ± erect. usually crowded in subcapitate to tight corymbiform arrays, closely subtended by clustered ± leafy bracts. Peduncles 0–1(–30) cm. Involucres hemispheric to campanulate, 2.5–3.5 cm, 2.5–4 cm diam., loosely to densely arachnoid, phyllaries connected by long septate or non-septate trichomes. Phyllaries radiating in 5–10 series, subequal, green, linear-acicular, outermost margins sometimes spiny-fringed, otherwise all entire or minutely serrulate, abaxial faces without glutinous ridge; outer and mid bases short-appressed, apices stiffly radiating to ascending, long, very narrow, spines straight, slender, 3–5 m; apices of inner straight, flat. Corollas white to pink or purple, very slender, 20–25 mm, tubes 10–17 mm, throats 4–5 mm, lobes filiform with knoblike tips, 3–5 mm; style tips 2–4 mm, included or exserted (only 1–2 mm beyond corolla lobes. . Cypselae brown, 3–4.5 mm, apical collars stramineous, 0.2 mm; pappi 10–22 mm. 2n = 34.
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Taprooted perennial. Stems branched above, with coarse cobwebby hairs especially below, (25)-60-130-(200) cm tall, strongly ribbed, not winged. Lvs lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, shallowly pinnatifid, green above, whitish beneath, (6)-10-25-(30) × (2)-3-7-(10) cm, with sparse soft multicellular hairs above and dense cobwebby tomentum beneath; lobes deltoid; prickles pale, 5-10 mm long. Capitula ovoid, waisted at flowering, erect, 2.5-3.5 × 2.5-3 cm, subsessile, in clusters of 3-4 or rarely solitary. Outer involucral bracts deltoid to lanceolate, with cobwebby hairs; apex acuminate, with strong spine 3-4-(6) mm long, suberect or erecto-patent. Inner involucral bracts linear, with short fine bristly hairs at least on margins; apex acute, not spinous, erect. Corolla purplish red, 18-25 mm long; lobes c. 3 mm long. Style not or barely exserted beyond corolla lobes. Achenes pale, narrowly obovoid, 3-4 × c. 1.5 mm; pappus 15-25 mm long; cilia on pappus bristles 3-5 mm long.
A herb. It is a robust thistle. It grows 90-250 cm high. It can grow fro 2 years or continue to grow for a few years. It has a thick taproot. The leaves in the first years from a ring near the base. The flower stems grow in the second year. The leaves and flower heads are spiny. The flowers are purplish-red.
Coastal meadows, marshes, swamps, riparian woodlands, moist sites in coastal scrub, chaparral, coastal woodlands, mixed conifer-hardwood forests, or coniferous forests, sea level to 1000 metres.
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It is a temperate plant. It grows in moist clearings and in valleys.
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