Subsequent leaves opposite, coarsely 3-lobed. First and subsequent leaves moderately covered with stiff hairs. Foliage covered with white to gray, short, bristly hairs. Leaves often opposite near the stem bases, alternate on the upper stems , gray-green, bipinnately lobed , with the primary lobes deep, to 8 cm long and 7 cm wide. Stems coarse, single or branched, woody at the base, longitudinally black-lined, covered with soft to bristly hairs.
Margins finely serrate.
Taproot short, thin, with many fibrous roots. Terminal spikes consist of nodding staminate heads, 2-5 mm in diameter. Pistillate heads are clustered in the leaf axils below the spikes. Staminate head phyllaries fused, cup-like, with 3 longest lobes blackish along the midveins . Pistillate head phyllaries fused, persistent, enclose a single ovary, become a bur in fruit.