Herbs, perennial, 15-50 cm tall, glabrous or sparingly papillose-hairy. Rootstock underground, slender to rather stout, apically with slender stems, which branch freely once reaching soil surface. Aerial stems weak, branched from base, sometimes supported by surrounding vegetation. Petioles of lower leaves 5-9 cm, upper ones shorter; blade glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, triangular in outline, 2-3 × ternately divided or sub-bipinnate with deeply divided leaflets, often papillose-scabrid on veins; ultimate lobes narrowly to broadly obovate, apex obtuse. Racemes 5-25-flowered, simple or rarely with a basal branch, rather dense at first, lax in fruit; lower bracts leaflike, once to twice ternate to ternatifid, upper ones entire or dentate, usually shorter than pedicels. Pedicel 5-15 mm, slender, arcuately reflexed in fruit. Sepals ca. 1 mm, rounded, finely dentate. Corolla yellow to orange, with tips of inner petals purplish black, sometimes only minutely so; upper petal with broad entire crest reaching apex and there abruptly terminating, narrowly decurrent on spur; spur 7-8 mm, broadly triangular-obtuse; nectary 1/2-2/3 as long as spur; lower petal broad, acute-acuminate, shortly crested; inner petals ca. 9 mm. Stigma with 6 simple papillae. Capsule linear, 12-15 × ca. 2 mm, including style ca. 2.5 mm, 5-7-seeded. Seeds in 1 row. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.
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