Beggar ticks (Engl.), Spanish needles (Engl.), Black jack (Engl.)

An erect, branched perennial herb, glabrous or hairy. Height: 0.2 to 1.5 meters high Leaves: Leaves are 1- to 2-pinnatifid and 15 centimeters long or less, the upper ones being usually much smaller; segments ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 5 centimeters long and toothed. Flowers: Flowering heads are about 8 millimeters long. Disc flowers are brown or yellowish and the ray ones yellow or nearly white. Inner involucral bracts have broad, scarious margins. Flowering head about 8 millimeters long. Fruits: Fruits are achenes, black, long and slender, linear, 1 to 1.5 centimeters long and characterized by four projections at the apex.