Carline thistle is a spiny biennial plant with distinctive daisy-like flower heads. The flowers appear to be ‘dead’ even when they are young and fresh. Carline thistle often produces stately, photogenic plants.
The flowers are clusters of small florets surrounded by golden-brown bracts when mature [silvery when immature]. The flowerheads have a diameter of 15 to 40 mm. They are solitary or in groups of 2 to 5. The green, alternate leaves are spiny. The plant is often short but can reach a height of 60 cm. There is no basal rosette.