General: Perennial herb from a short thick rhizome and stout branched stem-base covered with brown remains of old leaf-bases; stems 1 to several, tufted, spreading to erect, 5-15 (25) cm tall, appressed-hairy.
Leaves: Basal leaves crowded, short-stalked, pinnately compound; leaflets 7 to 21, rather crowded, 0.5-1 cm long, deeply cleft nearly to the base into linear-oblong lobes, greyish-green and silky-hairy on both surfaces, sometimes underlain by crinkly hairs.
Flowers: Inflorescence an open terminal cluster of 1 to 6 stalked flowers; corollas yellow, bowl-shaped, the petals 5, egg-shaped, 5-7 mm long, shallowly notched at the tip; calyces hairy and sometimes weakly glandular, 5-lobed, the lobes lance-triangular, 3-5 mm long, alternating with 5 shorter, narrower bractlets; ovaries superior; stamens usually 20.
Fruits: Achenes, numerous, clustered, lopsided-egg-shaped, 1.5-2 mm long, smooth.