Herbs, erect, 10-30(-45) cm tall. Rootstock a fusiform tuber, 10-17 × 3-5 cm thick, apex few branched. Stems single, or few branched, 8-19 mm thick, smooth and glabrous, sterile branches absent. Leaves alternate; stipules absent; petiole absent; lower leaves: blade long rounded, 1-2 cm × 3-7 mm, membranous or thinly papery, entire, glabrous; upper leaves: blade ovate-oblong or broadly ovate, thinly papery to leathery, 3-5 × 2-4 cm, ciliate, base attenuate into amplexicaul sheath, nearly enclosing stem, margin entire, apex obtuse-acute. Inflorescence a terminal compound pseudumbel; primary involucral leaves 3-5, similar to normal leaves, primary rays 3-5, 0.5-3 cm; secondary pseudumbels 3-rayed; cyathophylls 2, similar to normal leaves, but smaller, 0.8-1.4 cm × 4-8 mm. Cyathium subsessile, or stipe 1-3 mm;, involucre broadly campanulate, ca. 3.5 × 3-4 mm, both surfaces pilose, lobes rounded to broadly ovate; glands 4, pale brown, rounded to transversely reniform, entire. Male flowers many, not exserted from involucre. Female flower: ovary reaching margin of cup, smooth, glabrous; styles free; style arms oblique or slightly 2-lobed. Capsule 3-lobed, 5-6 × 5-6 mm, smooth, glabrous. Seeds oblong, ca. 4 × 2.5-3.2 mm, brown, smooth; caruncle peltate, bluntly conical, shortly stipitate. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jun.
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