Carduus japonicus (Candolle) Franchet; Cirsium belingschanicum Petrak; C. bodinieri (Vaniot) H. Léveillé; C. cerberus (Vaniot) H. Léveillé; C. hainanense Masamune; C. japonicum var. australe Kitamura; C. japonicum var. fukienense Kitamura; C. japonicum var. intermedium (Maximowicz) Matsumura; C. japonicum var. takaoense Kitamura; C. kiusianum Nakai; C. lacinulatum Nakai; C. maackii Maximowicz var. intermedium (Maximowicz) Nakai; C. maackii var. kiusianum (Nakai) Nakai; C. senile Nakai; C. smithianum Petrak; Cnicus bodinieri Vaniot; C. cerberus Vaniot; C. japonicus (Candolle) Maximowicz; C. japonicus var. intermedius Maximowicz.

Herbs 30-80(-150) cm tall, perennial. Roots tuberous, fusiform. Stems grayish white, erect, unbranched or branched above, ribbed, unwinged, with sparse to dense long multicellular hairs mixed with dense felt under capitula. Leaves concolorous, green, with sparse multicellular hairs along veins or glabrous, surface smooth. Basal leaves present at anthesis, with winged petiole, wing spiny or with spiny teeth; leaf blade ovate, obovate, or ± narrowly elliptic, 8-20 × 2.5-8 cm, pinnately divided; segments 6-12 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic, ± narrowly triangular, or triangular-lanceolate, toothed, teeth with marginal and 2-6 mm apical spines; terminal segment largest, lanceolate to narrowly triangular. Lower and middle cauline leaves similar but sessile, gradually smaller upward, semiamplexicaul. Capitula solitary or few, clustered at end of stem, erect or rarely nodding. Involucre campanulate, ca. 3 cm in diam., glabrous or sparsely cobwebby. Phyllaries imbricate, in ca. 6 rows, lacking marginal spinules, wings, and scarious appendage, abaxially with a dark resinous gland; outer and middle phyllaries triangular to narrowly triangular, 8-13 × 3-3.5 mm, narrowed into a 1-2 mm spine; inner phyllaries lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1.5-2 × 0.2-0.3 cm, apex acuminate and softly spiny. Florets bisexual. Corolla red to purple, ca. 2.1 cm, tube ca. 9 mm. Achene ca. 4 mm. Pappus bristles pale brown, ca. 2 cm. Fl. and fr. Apr-Nov.

Forests, forest margins, thickets, grasslands, wastelands, farmlands, roadsides, streamsides; 400-2100 m. Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, S Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Nei Mongol, NE Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East), Vietnam].