Plants 100-250 cm. Stems glabrous to sparsely tomentose. Leaves: blades oblanceolate or oblong-elliptic, 20-40 cm, shallowly to deeply pinnatifid, main spines 10-30 mm, abaxial faces glabrous or nearly so. Heads 10-20. Involucres 4-5 × 5-8 cm, glabrous. Phyllaries: outer and middle bodies scabridulous or minutely spinulose, marginal spinules usually 1 mm or shorter. Corollas pink to purple. 2n = 32, 34.

Flowering spring (Mar-Jun). Meadows, pastures, roadsides, forest openings, low ground, often in damp soil; 0-100 m; Ala., Ark., Fla., La., Miss., Okla., Tex.