E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Perennial herb from a taprooted woody stem-base; stems erect, 20-70 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves 8-30 cm long (including long stalks), much shorter than stems, twice 3-parted, the first set of 3 stalks 13-67 mm long (the leaflets not crowded), smooth or long soft-hairy, each leaflet 14-42 mm long, 2- to 3-times shallowly to deeply lobed, thin, usually hairy and with a bloom beneath, not glandular; stem leaves few, shorter-stalked.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of several nodding flowers in a terminal cyme, the flowers 2.5-5 cm wide; bracts leaf-like but greatly reduced, unstalked; petals 5, distinct, cream-coloured with yellow spurs, the spurs knobbed, 10-18 mm long, stout, evenly tapered from base or abruptly narrowed near middle, tips curved inward, the blades oblong, 7-10 mm long, 4-8 mm wide; sepals 5, yellow or tinged with pink, widely spreading, elliptic lance-shaped to oblong, 12-22 mm long, 4-10 mm wide, tips blunt to pointed; stamens 12-17 mm long.

Fruits:
Follicles, usually 5, erect, egg-shaped, 18-27 mm long, hairy or glandular-hairy; beaks 8-10 mm long; seeds black, egg-shaped, wrinkled and pebbled.

Notes:
This species hybridizes frequently with A. formosa. The hybrids have been called A. flavescens var. miniana Macbr. & Pays.