3.3â"4.9 ft. tall and have multi-branched stems. sharply spiny stems and leaves. The stem is cottony/hairy. The plants develop a rosette, with large leaves 12â"24 in long. Leaves are dark green, coarsely bipinnately lobed, with a smooth, waxy surface and sharp yellow-brown to whitish spines at the tips of the lobes.They are more or less hairy on top, and wooly on the veins below.The plant bears showy red-purple flowers. The large globose flower heads, containing hundreds of tiny individual flowers.