Dioecious perennial from a stout, woody root, 4–10 dm, branched from the base; basal lvs numerous, cauline lvs linear to hastately 3-lobed, the terminal lobe usually linear-oblong, the basal lobes commonly widely divergent, often unequal; infl 1–3 dm; staminate tep 1.5 mm, the outer obovate-oblong, the inner broadly obovate; outer tep of pistillate flowers reflexed in fr, barely 1 mm; valves broadly round-cordate, 2.5–3.5 mm, reticulate-veiny; achenes brown, 1.5 mm; 2n=26 (&), 27 (%). Sandy soil of the coastal plain; Mass. to Fla. and Tex., and n. in the Miss. Valley to Kans. and s. Ill.