Leaves (8)10-39(44) cm, ovate to oblong, pinnatifid to pinnatisect, sometimes runcinate, spiny-dentate. Capitula axillary, with a small peduncle up to 0.5 cm and 1-3 incised to pinnatifid involucral leaves, aggregated in a elongate, spike-like, paniculate inflorescence or in a globose, paniculate, very branched inflorescence. Scolymus hispanicus is used in food and in medical treatments.
Two subsp. : subsp. hispanicus and subsp. occidentalis F. M. Vasquez (Vasquez, 2000). We must observe cypsella for the diagnostic description.