The leaves grow variably in shape and size. Each leaf has prominent veins and an enlarged lobe at the end. Prickles form on the back as the leaf matures.
Aphids suck the juices from the tenderest tips.
Cabbage whites and sara orange-tips lay eggs on leaves that will soon provide munchies for green caterpillars. In early summer, seed pods form. These seedpods have constrictions between the individual seeds. The root, however, is too stringy, too tough and too strong to eat. Orb weaving spiders use the stalks as launch pads for the anchor strands of their big webs in late summer.