Echinops giganteus A.Rich.

Shrubby herb 0.5–1.8 (?–4) m high; stems ribbed, hardly branched or branched, white-tomentose to yellow-brown velvety.. Leaves spiny, pinnatifid to bipinnatisect with 3–6 pairs of lobes, 2–60(–90) cm long, 1–25 cm wide, the basal leaves largest, base semi-amplexicaul, margins spiny, apices spiny, pale green above with arachnoid tomentum but glabrescent, often glandular, whitish tomentose beneath.. Capitula 50–58 mm long, in terminal globose synflorescences 8–15 cm in diameter, with a few reflexed bracts; stalk of synflorescence 4–22 cm long; phyllaries oblanceolate, 17–48 mm long, attenuate and ending in a cluster of setae, the outermost pubescent.. Corolla heavily fragrant, white or cream, tube 7–20 mm long, glandular and sometimes pilose, lobes 7–20 mm long, anthers pale brown, style white.. Achenes columnar, 11–17 mm long, sparsely to densely pilose with ascending hairs; pappus of laciniate scales 1–5 mm long.. Fig. 9.

It is a tropical plant. It grows in grassland. In Nigeria it has been recorded at 1,670 m above sea level.