Cicerbita cyanea (D. Don) Beauv. in Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve, Ser 2, 2: 132. 1910. Sonchus cyaneus D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 164. 1825. Lactuca hastata DC., Prodr.7: 139. 1838; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 407. 1881. Cicerbita cyanea (D. Don) Beauv. var. glandulifera, (Franch.) Beauv. in Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve, Ser. 2, 2: 133. 1910.

Herbs, perennial; stems 1 - 3.5 m tall, erect, unbranched or sparingly paniculately branched. Leaves very variable, usually pinnatifid or pinnate to runcinate-pinnatifid, butale, deltoid or ovate; petiole winged and slightly dilated at base, simple or auricled. Heads subcampanulate, 1.5 - 2.3 x 0.6 - 1.2 cm; peduncle nodding, slender. Outer involucral bracts many seriate, oblong-ovate, 6 - 8 x 2 - 2.5 mm inner linear-oblong; 12 - 17 x 1 - 2 mm. Ligules blue, purple, violet or creamy white. Achenes dark brown or blackish brown, obovate or elliptic, compressed, 8-10 mm long including slender beak, irregularly ribbed, smooth. Pappus dirty white, 5-10 mm long, simple, deciduous.

Fl. & Fr. Sept. - Nov.

Distrib. India:Temperate Himalayas, N.E. region, S.India on exposed shady slopes, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, W. Bengal, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Nepal, China and Tibet.