Herbs, perennial, 15-40 cm tall, gray-glaucous, finely papillose pubescent at base of stem. Rhizome horizontal, 1-6 cm, densely clothed with imbricate thick fleshy reddish scales in 2 rows. Stems few to several, reddish, leafy and branched throughout. Radical leaves like lower cauline: very glaucous on both surfaces; blade biternate to sub-bipinnate; leaflets obovate, shallowly to deeply cut into obovate obtuse lobes; uppermost leaves and leaves of shorter stems less divided, grading into bracts. Racemes very dense at anthesis, soon elongating, 10-23-flowered; lower bracts rounded, shallowly cut into few obtuse lobes, middle and upper bracts entire, broadly obovate-subspatulate, 6-10 mm. Pedicel 8-20 mm, thin, straight, erect-spreading in fruit. Sepals rounded, 1.5-2 × ca. 2 mm, finely dentate. Corolla creamy white, sometimes with faint pinkish tint toward spur, pale yellowish green toward apex; inner petals white outside, with dark purple apical blotch inside; after pollination corolla with muddy purplish suffusion. Outer petals ecristate, rather narrow, acute; upper petal 26-29 mm; spur slightly sigmoidally curved, more strongly downcurved in bud stage, narrow, slightly attenuate, 14-18 mm; nectary 1/2-2/3 as long as spur; lower petal ca. 15 mm, straight with long narrow claw gradually dilated into rhombic-acute, sometimes shallowly 3-lobed limb; inner petals 14-15 mm. Stigma with marginal simple papillae: 4 apical, 2 broad diffuse lateral; geminate papillae: lateral and on pronounced basal lobes. Capsule sharply pendent from straight pedicel, reddish when fresh, narrowly fusiform, 13-15 × ca. 3 mm, 4-15-seeded, explosively dehiscent; style ca. 4.5 mm. Seed ovoid, ca. 1.2 × 0.9 mm, with small rugose elaiosome on slightly protruding beak. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug.
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