| Plant |
Height 10-60 cm, glabrous or subglabrous, spinescent, branched from base |
| Rosette leaves |
Glaucous green, rosulate, sinuate-dentate to pinnately lobed. Lateral lobes 2-4 pairs, triangular, retrorse, apex acute |
| Stem |
Whitish, rigid, intricately and divaricately branched |
| Stem leaves |
Similar to rosette leaves but smaller, less incised, and basally with linear auricles adnately long decurrent on stem |
| Heads |
Solitary, terminal and pedunculate or lateral and sessile, with 4-5 florets. Peduncle (when present) subulate, remaining as a spine after shedding of head. Involucre narrowly cylindric, 7-10 mm at anthesis, to 1.5 cm in fruit. Phyllaries green to bluish purple. Outer phyllaries ovate, abaxially pubescent. Inner phyllaries 3-4, apex obtuse. Florets pale yellow |
| Achenes |
7-8 mm. Body brownish, narrowly ellipsoid, 1.0-1.3 mm wide, with 5-7 ribs on either side. Beak concolorous, firm, 2-3 mm. Pappus 7-8 mm, caducous |
| Reference |
Source: Cichorieae Portal - based on Shih C. & Kilian N. (2011) In: Wu Z.Y. et al. (eds) Flora of China 20-21: 236. Beijing and St. Louis |
