Medium to tall stout plant that may reach 1.5 metres. Stems are unwinged, white-cottony usually branched above. Leaves pinnately lobed, with long ridged spines, white cottony beneath. Flowerheads are large, cottony-hairy, reddish purple 25 to 50 mm; usually solitary, erect, outer flower bracts recurved and spine tipped.

A very large plant.  As with all Cirsium, the pappus-hairs (the silky white hairs attached to the seed - the thistledown) are individually feathery or branched.

A photo of the whole plant in its habitat

Rough grassland, roadsides and railway embankments on dry calcareous soils.

Flowers July to September.

Biennial.

Occasional and mainly confined to central and southern England.

Infrequent and local in Leicestershire and Rutland where it is almost entirely confined to the Oolite layer in the north east of our area. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 13 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current checklist, (Jeeves 2011) it is listed as Native; rough calcareous grassland; occasional but nearly scarce