Taprooted annual. Stems erect, simple or branched, 30–150 cm, strigose to hispid. Leaves opposite; blade lanceolate to broadly ovate, 4–15 cm long, serrate, often 3-lobed, hispid, glandular. Female heads 1-flowered. Male heads saucer-shaped, black-veined, 2–4 mm wide, villous, hispid, glandular with 3 to 25 florets, nodding on peduncles 1–3 mm long. Bur 3–5 mm long, deltoid, ribbed, glabrous with ca. 5 erect spines (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).