Erect, 30 – 45 (-80) cm tall, basally  suffrutescent, many-stemmed, simple or ± branched, densely appressed white hairy, eglandular or minutely white papillate, spinescent shrublet.  Leaves thinly leathery, lower and median cauline leaves including petiole (8-) 10 – 15 cm long, 4 – 5 cm broad, green above and appressed cobwebby hairy, hairs persistent in patches or mosaics in older leaves, densely appressed white arachnoid hairy and sparsely glandular hairy beneath, revolute-margined, pinnatisect,  lobes 3 – 4 on each side, triangular, with apically tapering, yellowish, 10 – 20 mm long spines in sinuses, margins and apices; upper stem leaves gradually smaller. Heads horny, excluding spines 3 cm but including spines ca 6 cm in diameter. Partial involucre  ca 12 mm long ; pencils radiating to 2/3 of involucres. Phyllaries ca 13, outer  narrowly rhombic-spathulate, dorsally obtusely carinate, somewhat abruptly attenuate below woolly and ± glandulose apex, anteriorly minutely spinulose-denticulate; median phyllaries longer than the spines, ciliolate along the upper part of margins, spines straw-colored;  inner phyllaries 5, connate into a blackish tube, heteromorphic, 3 subulate-lanceolate, longer than  the two short, apically lacerate membranous ones. Corolla blue to pale blue, ca 10 mm long, tube ca 4 mm long, glandular-papillose, limb lobes filiform, ca 6 mm long. Cypselas juvenile, setulose. Pappus paleate, somewhat free.