General: Annual or short-lived perennial herb from a cluster of fibrous roots; stems single, erect, 30-60 (100) cm tall, hollow; plants stiff-hairy.
Leaves: Basal, persistent, heart-shaped, 3-parted, 1.6-7 cm long, 3-9 cm wide, the leaflets usually deeply cleft, the ultimate segments narrowly elliptic, coarsely sharp-toothed, tips pointed, the leaf stalks to 15 cm long, the stalks of lateral leaflets 3-20 mm long; stem leaves alternate, 3 to 8, transitional to upper 3- to 5-lobed and toothed bracts.
Flowers: Inflorescence of few-flowered, terminal cymes, the flower stalks to 6 cm long; receptacle long stiff-hairy; petals 5, distinct, yellow, 2-4 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, broadly egg-shaped, nectary on upper surface, the scale about 0.7 mm long, smooth; sepals 5, bent back about 1 mm above base, deciduous, 3-5 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, more or less long stiff-hairy; stamens 15-25; pistils 50-80.
Fruits: Grouped in a cylindric head 9-12 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, the achenes elliptic to egg-shaped, 1.8-2.8 mm long, 1.6-2 mm wide, smooth, margins slightly keeled; beaks persistent, broadly lanceolate or triangular, 0.6-0.8 mm long, straight or nearly so.
Wet to moist streambanks, ditches, thickets, meadows and forest edges in the lowland and montane zones; frequent S of 56degreeN east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, rare westward; E to NF and S to NJ, NM, AZ, ID, MT and WA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
