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

General:
Perennial herb from fibrous-rooted stem-base, sometimes with rhizomes; stems single, erect or nearly so, 20-110 cm tall, stiff-hairy or smooth, hollow.

Leaves:
Basal 5-sided in outline, deeply 3- to 5-parted, 2-5 cm long, 3-10 cm wide, the leaflets 1- to 2-times incised, the ultimate segments narrowly elliptic or oblong to lanceolate, margins toothed or shallowly lobed, tips pointed to rounded, the stalks up to 20 cm long; lower stem leaves similar to basal, but shorter-stalked, transitional to the upper stem leaves and bracts, these reduced to 3 linear segments unstalked on the sheath, entire or few-toothed.

Flowers:
Inflorescence few- to many-flowered cymes; flower stalks to 12 cm long; receptacle smooth; petals usually 5, distinct, yellow, 8-14 mm long, 7-13 mm wide, nectary on upper surface, the nectary scale smooth, just over 1 mm long; sepals 5, spreading, early deciduous, greenish, 4-6 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, long stiff-hairy; stamens 15-30; pistils 20-40 (50).

Fruits:
Achenes, 15 to 50 in a globe-shaped head 5-7 mm wide, the achenes egg-shaped, 2-3 mm long, 1.8-2.4 mm wide, smooth, margins prominent, keeled; beaks wide and flattened, 0.2-1 mm long, tip of variable length, curved or straight, awl-tipped.