It is hardy plant that also readily grows in disturbed and altered areas such as ditches and roadsides.

Its erect, branching stems are lined with many stiff, wavy-edged, serrated leaves 2 to 3 cm long.

Atop the stem branches are inflorescences of a single large flower head up to 3 cm wide.

The head is a vaguely thistlelike cup of green clawlike phyllaries that bend downward.

[1] It is grown horticulturally in sunny, dry gardens in California, where it blooms in profusion during spring, attracting many species of insects, butterflies, and beetles.