Herbs 40-100 cm, perennial. Stems simple or tufted, erect, branched above or rarely unbranched, ribbed, unwinged, with long crispate multicellular hairs. Leaves concolorous, green, surface smooth and not cobwebby but with crispate multicellular hairs dense abaxially along veins but scattered elsewhere. Basal and lower cauline leaves with petiole to 5 cm; leaf blade elliptic to oblanceolate-elliptic, 10-25 × 4-7 cm, pinnatipartite; segments 8-12 pairs, semiorbicular, ± narrowly elliptic, or obliquely triangular, with unequal triangular teeth laterally spiny and with an apical (3-)5-6(-12) mm spine. Middle and upper cauline leaves similar but sessile and gradually smaller upward. Capitula corymbose. Involucre campanulate, ca. 4 cm in diam., sparsely cobwebby. Phyllaries in ca. 8 rows, lacking wings and scarious appendage, all of similar length; outer and middle phyllaries 2-3 × 0.2-0.3 cm, pectinately fringed with spinules to 2.5 mm, basal portion triangular to lanceolate, apical portion subulate tipped with a ca. 3 mm spinule; inner phyllaries lanceolate to linear, ca. 2 × 0.1-0.2 cm, apex long acuminate. Florets bisexual. Corolla purplish red, ca. 2.4 cm, tube ca. 1 cm. Achene dark gray, ca. 5 mm. Pappus bristles dirty white, ca. 2.2 cm. Fl. and fr. May-Sep.
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A herb. It is a thistle. It grows 40-100 cm tall. It keeps growing from year to year. The leavesa re 10-25 cm long by 4-7 cm wide. They have 8-12 pairs of segments along the stalk.
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