Plants to 150 cm. Cauline leaves usually deeply lobed, spines usually 7-20 mm. Heads mostly 2.5-3.5 cm. 2n = 34.

Flowering summer (Jun-Aug). Springs, seeps, streamsides, coastal bluffs, coniferous and hardwood forests, often on serpentine; 10-1200 m; Calif.

Variety douglasii grows in the Coast Ranges from Humboldt to Monterey and San Benito counties.