General:
Perennial herb from a woody stem-base, rarely with rhizomes; stems erect, 30-100 cm tall, smooth to sparsely hairy.

Leaves:
Basal, 1 to 5, ascending, palmately 3-parted, 8-20 cm wide, the divisions oblanceolate to egg-shaped, 2-9 cm long, the margins coarsely toothed and incised in the upper 1/2, the lateral leaflets usually 1- or 2-lobed or parted, the ultimate segments 10-30 (40) mm wide, long soft-hairy; stalks 5-35 cm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a (1-) 2- to 9-flowered, terminal cyme; flower stalks long soft-hairy, primary stalks 1 to 3, 1 or 2 often with a secondary involucre of 1 to 3 flowers; primary involucral bracts 3 (-5), secondary 2 (3), leaf-like, stalked, similar to basal leaves; petals absent; sepals usually 5, petal-like, white or greenish, rarely red, oblong to elliptic or egg-shaped, 5-10 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, woolly-hairy on outside, smooth or nearly so inside; stamens 50-70.

Fruits:
Achenes, numerous in an egg-shaped to cylindric head on stalks 13-25 cm long, the achenes egg-shaped, 2-3.7 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, not winged, densely woolly-hairy; beaks curved, 1-1.5 mm long, minutely-hairy, not feathery.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia