Slender, erect or spreading, branching, ± pilose herb up to 6 dm. or more tall. Stock rather stout, erect. Radical lvs ∞, on slender petioles up to ± 35 cm. long; lamina 3-5-(10)cm. long, 3-foliolate to ternately divided; lflts deeply lobed, terminal one on petiolule up to 15 mm. long. Cauline lvs similar, smaller. Fls ± 1 cm. diam. on branched infl.; pedicels up to ± 10 cm. long; sepals 5-(4), at length reflexed, silky-hairy on dorsal surface; petals 5, bright yellow, later pale, obovate-oblong, rounded at apex; gland 1, basal. Fruiting heads globose; achenes glab., ± 3 × 2 mm., compressed, obliquely oval, margins thickened; style rather long, flattened at base, strongly curved.

2n = 16

Tufted perennial, to 80 cm tall; rhizome 0. Stems erect, with long fine spreading hairs below and short appressed hairs above. Basal and lower cauline lvs ternate, hairy; leaflets stalked, broadly ovate, deeply ternatifid to 3/4 way, 3-5 × 3-5 cm; lobes again 3-lobed and deeply sharply toothed; petioles 15-30 cm long, with spreading hairs. Cauline lvs similar to basal, but smaller with fewer and narrower segments. Fls many per stem, 8-12-(15) mm diam.; pedicels sulcate, 5-8-(15) cm long, with appressed hairs; bracts linear, acute. Sepals weakly reflexed at flowering, hairy. Petals 5, yellow, oblong to obovate; nectary single, very near petal base, covered by a truncate scale. Receptacle hairy. Achenes 30-50 in globose heads, rather dark, flattened, glabrous; body 2.5-3 mm long; beak hooked, c. 0.7 mm long.