Plant: Biennial, taprooted; stem erect, 1, 3-12 dm, ± soft-hairy Leaves: soft-hairy, entire; basal petioles 4-10 cm, unwinged; blades 8-20 cm, oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic, bases tapered; cauline many, sessile INFLORESCENCE: panicle, ± terminal, bracted, ± overlapping leaves; bracts ± leaf-like; pedicels 5-12 mm Flowers: radial; calyx ± deeply 5-lobed, enlarging in fruit; corolla 3-5 mm, 4-9 mm wide, ± salverform, 5-lobed, dull reddish purple, sometimes drying bluish, appendages purple, large; style entire Fruit: Fruit: nutlets generally 4, subspheric, descending-spreading, outer surfaces flat, margins raised, covered with short, barbed prickles Misc: Disturbed places; 850-1000 m.