Taprooted, hairy perennial 3-10 dm, lowest lvs usually merely coarsely toothed, the others ±deeply pinnatifid with narrow lateral and broader terminal segments, to 2.5 cm, reduced upwards; heads 1.5-4 cm thick; involucral bracts 8-12 mm; cal 3-4 mm; the 8-12 teeth bristle-like; cor lilac-purple, the marginal ones the largest; fr 5-6 mm, densely hairy; 2n=20, 40, 43, 46. A European weed, naturalized from Nf. and Que. to N.J. and W.Va. June-Sept. (Scabiosa a.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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