A large, aggressive thistle with an extremely tall flower stalk. This flower stalk may split into a few different stems towards the top, each with a large, circular disc-shaped flowerhead. The immature buds are unique, with the bulk of the ´disc´ made up of green sepals (leaf-like structures) with a small cluster of bright pink in the center. The mature flowers are a slightly lighter pink-purple, and actually made up of hundreds of tiny individual flowers, overall giving the appearance of a large, fuzzy flower center (without any noticeable petals). The mature flower usually droops towards the ground at a 90 degree angle. The base of the plant has many large dark green leaves, each with spikes on the wavy edges, a smooth waxy surface, and a thick white vein running down the middle. Both stems, leaves, and the bases of the flowers are spiky.