Leaves lanceolate, 9–14.5 cm long, 2–3 cm wide, grey-green, sparsely woolly hairy; lateral lobes of lamina in 5–7 pairs deltoid and patent, distal margins plane or with a large acute lobule and/or a few short teeth, proximal margins plane incised close to the midrib and thus with narrow interlobe areas; terminal lobe triangular with or without a narrow mucro, the margins plane, petiole rose-purple, unwinged; midrib green except in the lower third. Scapes 9–11 cm long at anthesis, 11–27 cm long in fruit, white-woolly in bud, glabrous at maturity except just under the capitulum, entirely rose-purple. Capitula ca 3 cm diam., outer involucral bracts broad-lanceolate, 8–9 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide, downcurved, narrowly but clearly white-bordered, apices dark, not callosed; innermost involucral bracts linear c. 20 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, not callosed. Outer florets with a flat ligule, exceeding the involucre by ca 5 mm; anthers with pollen; stigmas greenish yellow. Achenes fusiform 3.2–3.5 mm long, 1 mm wide with straight spines less than 0.3 mm long at the apex, smooth to verrucate to the base, light brown to purplish; cone conical 0.2–0.5 mm long; beak 8–9 mm long. Pappus 5–6 mm long. Flowers and fruits mainly Sept.–Apr.
