Taprooted biennial. Stems branched above, 1-2 m tall, with usually sparse multicellular or cobwebby hairs, strongly ribbed; wing narrow or interrupted between the deltoid or palmatifid clusters of teeth; spines 5-10 mm long. Lvs narrow to oblong-lanceolate, deeply 1-2-pinnatifid, 5-20-(40) × 1.5-10-(18) cm, glabrous except for sparse multicellular cobwebby hairs on midrib; basal lvs with 5-9 pairs of lobes; lobes palmatifid-dentate; teeth spine-tipped; spines pale, 3-5-(8) mm long. Capitula erect, persistent, (1)-1.5-(2) × 1.5-2 cm, solitary and pedunculate or in sessile or subsessile clusters of 2-4; peduncle 1-1.5-(2) mm diam. Involucre globose, ovoid or hemispheric. Outer and middle involucral bracts linear-acuminate, evenly tapered to erecto- patent spinous tip, without distinct claw and limb, with sparse cobwebby hairs; midvein raised almost to base. Inner involucral bracts linear, puberulent; midvein barely raised in distal 1/2of bract; apex acute, scarious, often pink. Corolla red-purple, pinkish, or white, (12)-14-18 mm long; lobes 5-6 mm long; swelling at throat of tube oblong, > 2 mm long. Achenes pale, ellipsoid, 3-4 × 1.5-2 mm; pappus 11-14 mm long.