Herb, about 1/4 meter tall, growing on compacted soil at the edge of the main dirt road above Camp Joseph Paige prison, in Marshall Canyon, in the San Gabriel Mountains foothills. This plant grabbed my attention for two reasons: because it was still in flower when all of the other Centaurea (melitensis) is well and dead, and because the spines on the inflorescences were remarkably long for Centaurea around this locality. Coin used for scale is a US quarter dollar (¢25 piece), 24.26 mm, 0.955 inch in diameter.
No others seen in area, along side of trail