Carduus euosmus Forrest; Xanthopappus multicephalus Y. Ling.

Rootstock very short, with dense fibrous remains of old petioles. Leaves with a spiny rigid 2-10 cm petiole; leaf blade ± narrowly elliptic, 20-30 × 5-8 cm, abaxially grayish white and thickly cobwebby-felted, adaxially green and glabrous, midvein abaxially raised; segments 8-12 pairs, narrowly elliptic to ovate-triangular, with triangular teeth or toothed lobes, margin with patent spinules, apex of segments, lobes, and teeth with a rigid yellow spine. Capitula to 20. Involucre broadly campanulate, ca. 6 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 8 or 9 rows, rigid, abaxially scabrid; outer phyllaries lanceolate, 2-2.5 × 0.3-0.4 cm, leathery; middle phyllaries ± narrowly lanceolate, 3-3.5 × 0.4-0.5 cm, leathery; inner phyllaries ± broadly linear, 3.5-4 × 0.3-0.4 cm, scarious. Corolla yellow, ca. 3.5 cm. Achene (immature) ca. 7 mm. Pappus bristles yellowish, 2.5-3.5 cm, brittle. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

● Meadows, steppes, dry slopes; 2400-4000 m. Gansu, W Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Sichuan, NW Yunnan.