A short-lived herbaceous plant developing a basal rosette of leaves at first. Its upright branched stems are densely hairy and usually grow up to 1 m tall. Its lower leaves (4-10 cm long) are elongated in shape with bluntly toothed to deeply lobed margins. Its smaller upper leaves are usually long and narrow with finely toothed or entire margins. Its small flower-heads (6-12 mm across) do not have any obvious 'petals' and turn whitish and fluffy as they mature. Its small 'seeds' (1.5-2 mm long) are topped with a tuft of whitish-coloured hairs about 3 mm long.