Stems ± erect, 5–14 dm; herbage pubescent with mainly simple and spreading bristly hairs, varying to merely strigose or subglabrous; lvs suborbicular to ovate in outline, 5–7-cleft, with oblong or ovate, coarsely toothed segments; stipules ovate, 8–16+ mm; peduncles (pedicels) mainly axillary, to 15 cm, 1-fld; fls all perfect; bractlets lanceolate or ovate, 10–17 × 3–6 mm, the slender tips connivent in bud to form an evident beak; pet red or pale red, 20–32 mm, erose-denticulate across the top; mature carpels rugose-reticulate; 2n=56. Glades, rocky woods, and disturbed sites; Mo. and se. Kans. to n. Ark. and e. Okla., barely entering our range in Mo. May–Aug.