Erect herb to c. 2 m high. Leaves basal and cauline, lanceolate or oblong, to 40 cm long and 9 cm wide, apex acute, bases more or less fused, margins entire or toothed, glabrous, with prickles mainly on lower midrib. Heads terminal, globose in flower, ovoid in fruit, 2–8 cm long, 2–4 cm diam. Involucral bracts linear, 3–12 cm long, unequal, mostly longer than head, rigid and curved upwards; receptacle bracts acute to acuminate, longer than or about the same length as flowers, with a straight or recurved and flexible or rigid apical spine; corolla 10–15 mm long, usually purplish, sometimes white or pale lilac, corolla-lobes c. 1 mm long. Cypselas narrow obcuneate, 2–3 mm long. Flowers mainly summer.
VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz. Native to Europe and western Asia. An occasional weed of pastures, roadsides, streamsides and other disturbed sites.
The dried heads were formerly used for ‘fulling’ (producing a nap on woollen cloth). It may occasionally still be cultivated.
