Appearance
The plant is a biennial herb producing an erect, branching, winged, spiny stem known to exceed two meters in maximum height. The spiny leaves may be up to 50 centimetres long and are divided into deep toothed lobes. The inflorescence bears several large flower heads each up to 7 centimetres wide. They are lined with spiny, woolly to cobwebby phyllaries and bear many narrow glandular purple flowers each about 3 centimetres long. The fruit is a cylindrical achene 4 or 5 millimetres long topped with a white pappus 1 centimetre in length.References:
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