Taprooted perennial. Stems branched above, with coarse cobwebby hairs especially below, (25)-60-130-(200) cm tall, strongly ribbed, not winged. Lvs lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, shallowly pinnatifid, green above, whitish beneath, (6)-10-25-(30) × (2)-3-7-(10) cm, with sparse soft multicellular hairs above and dense cobwebby tomentum beneath; lobes deltoid; prickles pale, 5-10 mm long. Capitula ovoid, waisted at flowering, erect, 2.5-3.5 × 2.5-3 cm, subsessile, in clusters of 3-4 or rarely solitary. Outer involucral bracts deltoid to lanceolate, with cobwebby hairs; apex acuminate, with strong spine 3-4-(6) mm long, suberect or erecto-patent. Inner involucral bracts linear, with short fine bristly hairs at least on margins; apex acute, not spinous, erect. Corolla purplish red, 18-25 mm long; lobes c. 3 mm long. Style not or barely exserted beyond corolla lobes. Achenes pale, narrowly obovoid, 3-4 × c. 1.5 mm; pappus 15-25 mm long; cilia on pappus bristles 3-5 mm long.