Herbs , perennial, deciduous, 2.5-5 dm, glabrous. Rhizomes extensive, branching, producing 1-few foliage leaves or flowering shoots per year. Aerial stems absent. Leaves basal, alternate, 3-foliolate; petiole long, slender. Leaf blade orbiculate in gross outline, 20-40 cm; leaflet blades fan-shaped, entire or lobed, lateral leaflet blades strongly asymmetric, margins entire to coarsely sinuate; venation palmate. Inflorescences terminal, dense scapose-pedunculate spikes of inconspicuous flowers. Flowers 3-merous, white to cream, 6 mm or less; bracteoles absent; sepals absent; petals absent; stamens 8-10(-13); anthers dehiscing by 2 apically hinged flaps; pollen exine striate; ovaries asymmetrically ellipsoid; placentation marginal, placenta developed only near base of ovary. Fruits follicles with transverse dehiscence, purplish red or brown, curved, furrowed. Seeds 1, brown; aril absent. x = 6.
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