Herbs, 3–11 dm. Roots: tubers fusiform, thickened. Stems with glistening sessile-glandular hairs and ± matted-pubescent to villous and hirsute (hairs scattered, erect, stiff, 2–3 mm). Leaves: mid cauline stipules ± falcate, margins dentate; major leaflets 3–15 (mid cauline 9), minor 1–3 pairs; major leaflet blades ± obovate, terminal largest, largest of these 2.3–4.1 × 1–1.7 cm, margins incised, apex obtuse to acute, abaxial surfaces glistening with sessile-glandular hairs and pubescent to villous and sparsely hirsute (hairs stiff, 2 mm). Inflorescences: axes often with glistening sessile-glandular hairs and pubescent to villous and hirsute (hairs stiff, erect, 2 mm). Flowers usually ± alternate. Fruiting hypanthia hemispheric to turbinate, 1.5–2.7 × 1.8–3.3 mm, obscurely sulcate, hooked bristles in 3–4 circumferential rows, proximal row spreading 45–90°, glistening with sessile-glandular hairs (often yellow).

Flowering late Jul–Nov. Dry to moist, longleaf pine-oak woods, oak-hickory slopes, roadsides, sand or shell maritime thickets; 0–200 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., Mo., S.C., Tex.

Populations of Agrimonia incisa are infrequent and usually widely scattered within the limited range (15–20 currently known). The plants are sometimes abundant where they occur.