Aerial shoots 20-30 cm, from tubers, tubers ±vertical. Basal leaves 4-10, 2-3-ternate or irregularly so; petiole 5-10 cm; terminal leaflet petiolulate, obovate, 1.2-1.8(-20) × ca. 1.5(-2.5) cm, base narrowly cuneate, margins coarsely serrate to nearly incised on distal 1/2, ciliate or not, apex broadly acute, surfaces nearly glabrous; lateral leaflets 1-2×-lobed or -parted; ultimate lobes 2-5 mm wide. Inflorescences (1-)2-3-flowered cymes; peduncle proximally nearly glabrous, distally downy; involucral bracts primarily 3, (1-)2-tiered, simple, dissimilar to basal leaves, obtriangular, 3-cleft to pinnatifid, 2-5 cm, bases clasping, ±connate, margins incised throughout, apex acuminate, surfaces appressed-pilose; segments primarily 3, linear; lateral segments unlobed or 1×-lobed; ultimate segments 1-2 mm wide. Flowers: sepals 7-11, greenish white to abaxially reddish, oblong, 6-12(-14) × (2-)3-4.5 mm, abaxially hairy, adaxially glabrous; stamens 35-55. Heads of achenes oblong-ellipsoid; pedicel 10-18 cm. Achenes: body ovate, flat, not winged, densely white-villous (with long tuft of hairs at base); beak ±straight, ca. 1 mm, hidden in achene indument, white-tomentose, not plumose. Flowering spring (Mar-Apr). Dry, open ledges and slopes; 500-1500m; Tex.