Herbs, perennial, 50-100(-130) cm tall, glabrous. Rootstock elongate, usually thicker at apex, often with fibrous leaf residues apically. Stems 1 to few, erect, terete, stiff, leafy throughout but branched only above. Radical leaves in a lax rosette, long stalked; petiole terete, 6-25 cm, vaginate at very base; blade thin, pale abaxially, green adaxially, triangular-ovate, 8-25 × 7-20 cm, tripinnate with distinct petiolules; leaflets to 1 cm, ± deeply cut into rounded mucronate lobes. Cauline leaves like radical leaves, but smaller, shortly petiolate to sessile. Racemes 5-20-flowered, dense; middle and upper bracts lanceolate, acute, often with distinct stalk, entire or ± toothed; lower bracts often like uppermost leaves. Pedicels 5-10 mm, lowermost sometimes to 30 mm. Flowers purple or variegated with pink and blue; spur and center of outer petals pink, margin often blue; inner petals with dark purple apex, except for pale dorsal wings. Sepals often pink, rounded, 1.5-2 mm, dentate. Outer petals without or with small crest, with narrow base and broad obtuse apex; upper petal 15-19 mm; spur downcurved or nearly straight, 5-9 mm, rather thin; nectary prominent, ca. 2/3 as long as spur; inner petals ca. 8 mm, claw longer than limb. Stigma nearly orbicular, with 8 papillae. Capsule linear, 20-35 × 2-3 mm, slightly constricted between seeds, 8-15-seeded. Seeds in 1 row, ca. 2 mm, with small caruncle. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.
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