Leaves: Basal leaves large, up to 60 cm long and 40 cm wide, egg- to heart-shaped, short-stalked or unstalked (the lower stalks hollow), green and nearly glabrous above, thinly white-woolly beneath; stem leaves similar, alternate, progressively reduced upwards.
Flowers: Heads numerous in a relatively scattered, elongate inflorescence; involucres globose, burlike, 1.5-2.5, rarely 3.5 cm wide, nearly unstalked or on short stalks; involucral bracts in several series, long, narrow, angled, ascending with inwardly hooked tips; ray flowers lacking; disk flowers deep pink to purple, tubular.
Fruits: Achenes glabrous, oblong, 3-angled, several-ribbed; pappus of numerous short bristles.
Dry roadsides, disturbed areas and pastures in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; frequent in coastal, WC and S BC; introduced from Eurasia. Description
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
