Biennials, 30-200(-300) cm; taproots. Stems 1-many, erect or ascending, branches few-many, ascending, villous with septate trichomes. Leaves: blades oblong-lanceolate to obovate, 15-40 × 6-15 cm, margins plane or revolute, coarsely 1-2-pinnatifid with rigidly divergent lobes, sometimes merely spinose-dentate, lobes triangular to lanceolate, entire to spiny-dentate, main spines 2-10 mm, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, villous with septate trichomes along veins, adaxial green, covered with short appressed bristlelike spines, sometimes tomentose when young; basal present or absent at flowering, petioles winged, bases tapered; principal cauline winged-petiolate, mid and distal becoming sessile, well distributed or not, progressively reduced distally, at least distal decurrent as long spiny wings; distal cauline often more deeply lobed than proximal, main lobes rigidly spiny, margins spinulose, otherwise entire. Heads few-many in corymbiform or paniculiform arrays. Peduncles 1-6 cm. Involucres hemispheric to campanulate, 3-4 × 2-4 cm, loosely arachnoid-tomentose. Phyllaries in 10-12 series, strongly imbricate, linear-lanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), outer and middle appressed, (bases stramineous), margins entire, abaxial faces without glutinous ridge, apices radiating, greenish, spines 2-5 mm; apices of inner phyllaries flat, serrulate to minutely erose. Corollas purple (rarely white), 25-35 mm, tubes 18-25 mm, throats 5-6 mm, lobes 5-7 mm; style tips 3.5-6 mm. Cypselae light brown with darker streaks, 3-4.5 mm, apical collar not differentiated; pappi 20-30 mm. 2n = 68. Flowering mostly summer (Jun-Sep), year round in areas with mild climates. Invasive weed of disturbed sites, pastures, meadows, forest openings, roadsides; 0-2200 m; introduced; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia.

Plant: Biennial forb to 1 m; stems branching, spiny Leaves: leaves rosette in first year, alternate in second, pinnately lobed, hairy and prickly on upper side, cottony underneath INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads discoid, 1-several, ± clustered, closely subtended by bract-like uppermost leaves; peduncles 1-6 cm; involucres 3-4 cm, 2-4 cm diam, hemispheric or bell-shaped; phyllaries graduated in 5-10 series, tips linear to linear-lanceolate, spreading to reflexed, spines 1-5 mm Flowers: corollas 25-35 mm, ± bilateral, purple-pink; tube 18-25 mm, slender; throat 5-6 mm; lobes 5-6 mm; anther bases sharply sagittate, tips oblong; style tip with slightly swollen node, appendage (above node) long, cylindric, branches very short Fruit: 3.5-4.5 mm, light-brown or tan, ovoid, glabrous; scar slightly angled; pappus 20-30 mm, bristles white, many, plumose Misc: Disturbed areas; < 2300 m.; Jun-Sep