Tufted perennial; rosettes 8-10 cm tall, arising from stout fibrous rhizome. Lamina deltoid to orbicular, 20-30-(40) mm diam., ternatifid to c. 3/4 way; lobes again ternatifid or toothed, glabrous except for tufts of hairs at tips of teeth. Fls solitary, 25-30 mm diam.; scapes short, elongating to 3-5 cm long at fruiting, with fine cobwebby hairs. Sepals spreading, with fine hairs beneath. Petals 5, c. = sepals, yellow, obovate; nectaries 3, 2-3 mm from petal base, naked. Receptacle almost glabrous. Achenes numerous, not flattened, glabrous; body bulbous, 1.5-2 mm long; beak straight, tapering, c. 3 mm long.

Rosette herb about 8-10 cm diam., or forming compact patches up to 30 cm diam. by sympodial growth. Rhizome stout, 4-8 mm diam., loosely fibrous from the remains of sheathing petiolar bases and bearing abundant long fleshy roots c. 1.5 mm diam. Lamina deltoid to orbicular or sub-reniform, 2-3-(4) cm diam., rather thick and firm, glossy bright green above, paler but no less glossy beneath, divided about three-quarter-way into three 3-5- lobed segments, sparsely hairy with penicillate tuft at tip of each lobe. Petiole 1.5-3 cm long, cobwebby on the short, broad, sheathing base, grooved on adaxial surface. Peduncle without bracts, green, often purple-stained at base, clad in fine, cobwebby hairs, very short in flower but elongating to 3-5 cm in fruit, becoming broader upwards. Flowers solitary, 25-30 mm diam.; sepals 5, c. 15 mm long, often emarginate at tips, greenish yellow, finely hairy beneath, almost glabrous above; petals 5, barely or not exceeding sepals, c. 10-12 × 6-8 mm, bright yellow but green in basal third, the base abruptly narrowed; nectary of 3 simple pits per petal, the central one largest; receptacle almost glabrous, pale yellow-green. Fruiting head compact, globose to ovoid, c. 12 mm diam.; achenes numerous, c. 5 mm long; body bulbous, 1.5—2 mm diam.; beak straight and tapering, c. 3 mm long.

Herba rosulata a R. pingui Hook. f. differt foliis profundius divisis, segmentis angustioribus; scapo arachnoideo; petalis quinque, latis, vix rigidis; nectariis tribus; achenii rostro corpore longiore; a R. sericophyllo Hook. differt pubescentia minus densa; foliis minus divisis, segmentis latioribus; scapo basi gradatim angustato; floribus 3 cm brevioribus, petalis sepala aequantibus vel vix superantibus.