Japan Flora: Stems 1.5-2 m. long, stout, glabrous or sometimes pubescent, densely leafy; median cauline leaves chartaceous, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 25-35 cm. long, long-acuminate, cuneate at base, glabrous on both sides or short-pubescent beneath, sessile, pinnatifid, the lobes 4-6 pairs, oblong-lanceolate, long-acuminate, often 3-lobulatc nearly to die base, spines 3-10 mm. long; heads many, small, in dense spikes, erect or ascending; involucres tubular, more or less cobwebby, 1.4-1.5 cm. long, 1.5-1.7 cm. wide; bracts 7- scriatc, recurved, the outer short, lanceolate or ovate, acumi­nate, stout spine-tipped, the median narrowly oblong, some­times spinulose-margined; corollas purplish, 17-18 mm. long.       Mountains.

Shikoku, Kyushu.