Members of this genus grow as annual or biennial plants. The erect stem is tall, branched and furrowed but not spiny. The large, alternate leaves are waxy-lobed, toothed and thorny, as in other genera of thistle. The leaves are prominently banded with splashes of white. They have large, disc-shaped pink-to-purple, rarely white, solitary flower heads at the end of the stem. The flowers consist of tubular florets. The phyllaries under the flowers occur in many rows, with the outer row with spine-tipped lobes and apical spines. The fruit is a black achene with a white pappus. Milk thistles is a genus of two species of thistles. The plants are native to the Mediterranean regions of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. One species has been introduced elsewhere, including in North America.