Herbs, perennial (sometimes flowering first year), 10-45 cm tall, glabrous. Rhizome short, vertical, with apical leaf rosette. Stems few to many, leafy and branched throughout, arising from below apical rosette. Rosette leaves and lower cauline leaves similar; petiole 3-10 cm, vaginate at base; blade glaucous on both surfaces, adaxially especially on veins, often with pale marks in incisions, orbicular-triangular to broadly ovate, 3-7 × 3-8 cm, ternate to usually biternate; primary leaflets petiolulate; secondary sessile, obovate to broadly ovate, base cuneate, entire to ± deeply 3-divided; segments coarsely dentate or shallowly lobed into oblong obtuse mucronate teeth; upper leaves smaller, shortly stalked and less divided, ternate or even simple, with shortly auriculate membranous vaginae. Raceme 2-5(-9)-flowered, dense to lax in flower, lax in fruit; lower bracts shortly stalked, blade once to twice ternatisect or palmatisect with broad apically dentate lobes, upper flabellate, deeply dentate, uppermost lanceolate, entire; lowermost bract sometimes compound like upper leaf. Pedicel 5-20(-40) mm in flower, 10-30(-40) mm in fruit. Sepals rounded, 1-2 × 1.5-2 mm, fimbriate-dentate. Corolla white or creamy white in shade or pale grayish purple, sometimes reddish purple in sunny positions, becoming deeper colored after fertilization. Outer petals broadly acute at apex with 1-1.5 mm wide crest tapering to both ends, just reaching apex; upper petal 18-25 mm; spur cylindric or slightly tapering, downcurved to almost straight, 8-13 mm; nectary ca. 1/2 as long as spur; lower petal usually saccate in lower 1/3 with an additional pouch close to base. Stigma square, with 6 marginal simple papillae; geminate papillae lateral (submarginal) and on basal lobes. Capsule elliptic to obovoid, 13-17 × 4-5 mm, 6-17-seeded; style 2.5-3 mm. Seeds 1.5-1.7 mm, smooth; elaiosome broad, lobed. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.
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