Erect perennial to 1.7 m tall. Basal leaves oblanceolate to narrowly ovate, 10–30 cm long, 2–10 cm wide, margins entire or dentate, acute, surfaces pubescent to scabrous, petiolate; cauline leaves lanceolate to ovate, smaller, acute, decurrent. Capitula solitary, ovoid to hemispheric, 2.5–6 cm diam.;involucre c. 1.5–4 cm long; intermediate involucral bracts ovate or broadly lanceolate, glabrous with a light brown to brown fimbriate terminal appendage 1–1.5 cm long; inner involucral bracts longer with lacerate terminal appendage. Corolla3.5–4 cm long, yellow. Cypselas 7–8 mm; pappus of flattened bristles 5–8 mm long. Flowers summer.
VAlp. In Australia Centaurea macrocephala is only known on from a 1998 collection from disturbed ground in the Falls Creek Alpine Village and believed to be an 'escapee' from a garden in the village.
