Stout annual to biennial up to 2 m high but frequently smaller, often branched from base. Stems densely clothed in stellate hairs when young, becoming ± glabrous and often woody at base when older. Lvs densely clothed in stellate hairs when young, becoming sparsely so when older, suborbicular, cordate to obtuse at base, shallowly 3-5-palmately lobed and crenate or serrate, 1-15 cm diam.; petioles 1-15 cm long; stipules ovate-triangular, 3-6 mm long. Fls in axillary clusters of (1)-2-6-(8); fruiting pedicels 5-25 mm long; epicalyx segments ovate to broadly ovate, united for lower 1/4, c. ⅔-4/5 length of calyx, unchanged at fruiting; calyx shallowly campanulate; calyx teeth ± = tube, ovate, acuminate, densely clothed in stellate hairs, usually ± connivent at fruiting; petals lilac or pink with darker veins, (8)-10-18 mm long. Mericarps 8-10 per fr., glabrous, ± smooth or faintly ribbed on back and with a single low longitudinal rib; edges usually rounded, rarely ± sharply angled.