Herbs 20-25 cm tall, perennial. Stems branched from base, sparsely to densely cobwebby to lanate. Leaves leathery, abaxially grayish white or white and densely cobwebby to thickly lanate, adaxially green, glabrous, and gland-dotted. Basal and lower cauline leaves shortly petiolate; leaf blade elliptic, 10-20 × 2-3 cm, pinnatipartite or subpinnatisect; proximal segments transformed into spines; distal segments triangular-lanceolate to lanceolate, spiny. Middle and upper cauline leaves similar but sessile and gradually smaller upward, semiamplexicaul. Uppermost leaves narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, spiny toothed. Pseudocephalia solitary or paired, 3-4 cm in diam. Capitula 1.4-1.5 cm. Phyllaries 20-28; outermost phyllaries oblanceolate, 3-4 mm, unequal, 1/5-1/4 as long as involucre, distal portion brownish, broadly elliptic, cartilaginous, margin long ciliate, and apex shortly acuminate; middle phyllaries narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 0.9-1.2 cm, distal half of margin long ciliate, abruptly constricted from middle into a spiny tip; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic, ca. 1.3 cm, apex dentate. Corolla blue, tube outside gland-dotted, lobes abaxially with a few long hairs. Achene ca. 6.5 mm, hairs yellowish. Pappus scales linear, ca. 1 mm, unequal, connate at base. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.
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