Herbs to 40 cm tall. Stem solitary, erect, unbranched, unwinged, densely lanate. Leaves leathery, discolorous, abaxially grayish white and densely cobwebby-felted, adaxially green, glabrous, and shiny. Basal leaves with spiny petiole ca. 5 cm; leaf blade linear-elliptic to lanceolate-elliptic, 10-20 × 3.5-5.5 cm, pinnately lobed or pinnatipartite; segments 9-11 pairs, semiorbicular to broadly triangular, with marginal spinules of to 1 mm and 3-5 teeth with a yellowish 4-6 mm apical spine. Middle and upper cauline leaves similar but shortly petiolate or sessile. Capitula 5-9, clustered at end of stem, without small capitula present in leaf axils below main cluster. Involucre broadly campanulate, ca. 4.5 cm in diam., densely lanate; outer and middle phyllaries lanceolate-subulate, ca. 2 cm × 3.5 mm, apex narrowed into a short weak spine; inner phyllaries ± broadly linear, 2.5-3 × ca. 0.2 cm, apex acuminate. Corolla purplish red, ca. 2.9 cm, tube ca. 1.2 cm. Achene obconic, 6-7 mm. Pappus bristles yellowish, to 2.5 cm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.
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