Plants 30-90 cm. Stems glabrous to sparsely tomentose. Leaves: blades linear to oblong, 10-30 cm, spinose-dentate to shallowly pinnatifid, main spines mostly 5-10 mm, abaxial faces glabrous or nearly so. Heads 1-10. Involucres 3-4 × 3-6 cm, glabrous. Phyllaries: outer and middle bodies densely scabridulous, marginal spinules 0.1-0.5 mm. Corollas purple. 2n = 32, 33, 34, 35.

Flowering winter-summer (Feb-Aug). Meadows, pastures, old fields, pinelands, usually in damp soil; 0-100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C.

Variety vittatum grows on the coastal plain.