Perennial plant, upright, rigid, 45 cm tall, little branched and rough. Few solitary flower heads, globular involucre, a little narrowed over the flowers, 2 cm in diameter, on a long and rigid peduncle formed by many triangular bracts, wide and edged with very dark brown, almost black, with twisted spines. The inner ones are more elongated, also with a dark triangular tip and twisted laciniae. Green with white hairs. The lower part of the edge almost transparent. The purple or purplish-pink flowers, more bulbous tube-shaped.