Short to tall plant, stem solid, often ridged. Leaves 2 or 3 pinnate feathery, with linear or lanceolate segments, the uppermost often bract like. Flowers white, the central one of the umbel sometimes purple, 2 mm, the umbels with numerous rays which become remarkably contracted in fruit. Bracts conspicuous, usually three lobed. Fruit with short spines. Tap root is white.

Bracts pinnately divided and appearing feathery; fruits flattened and with spiny ridges

Rough grassland, on well drained soils.

June to August.

Annual or biennial.

Fairly common in Britain.

Quite common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 178 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, locally frequent