Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.

Habitat: Wet meadows, moist, sometimes alkaline ground, and forest openings from the foothills to fairly high elevations in the mountains.

Flowers: June-August

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Biennial, Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, butterflies, beetles, hummingbirds

Herbaceous perennial from a taproot, often acaulescent, or the stem up to 1 m. tall, thick and succulent, tapering slightly upward, somewhat spider-webby.

Leaves numerous in a basal rosette in the acaulescent form, alternate in the cauline form; leaves spider-webby on the upper surface, slightly woolly below, weakly spiny, coarsely toothed to pinnatifid, broadly linear.

Heads densely clustered at the top of the stem, over-topped by the subtending leaves; involucre 2-3.5 cm. high, nearly glabrous, its bracts broad, well imbricate, the outer with short, erect spine tip, the inner less spiny and often with a scarious, fringed tip; flowers all tubular and perfect, the corollas whitish to pale pink or purplish, unequally cleft, the deepest sinuses 5-8 mm. deep, the tube about twice as long as the throat.

Achene.