Carlina racemosa L.  

A spiny annual, covered with white-cobwebby hairs. Stems simple or branching from the base, to 40 cm tall. Leaves about 10 cm long, stiff, ovate-lanceolate with spiny-toothed margins; the lower ones stalked, often pinnatifid; the upper ones sessile, overtopping the flower heads. Flower heads up to 1.5 cm across, solitary, sessile, over-topped by branches, forming a spike-like inflorescence.   Ray florets absent;  florets up to 6 mm long, yellow.   Involucre up to 1 cm across; bracts lanceolate; the outer ones leaf-like, spiny; the inner ones about 1 cm long, golden yellow, spreading, looking like ray florets. Achenes 2 to 3 mm long; pappus of feathery hairs about 5 mm long.