Vines woody, sometimes dwarf, erect shrublets when growing in dry, sandy, or gravelly regions. Branches shallowly 6--8-grooved, puberulous, glabrescent. Leaves 1- or 2-pinnate; petiole 2--6 cm; leaflet blades rhombic-ovate to narrowly ovate, 1--6 × 0.5--2.8 cm, papery, often 3-lobed near base or undivided, both surfaces sparsely puberulous on veins, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or subcordate, margin denticulate, apex acute to ± obtuse; basal veins abaxially flat. Flowers solitary, terminal, or sometimes also in axillary 1--3-flowered cymes, 2--6 cm in diam.; peduncle 0.3--3 cm; bracts short petiolate, similar to leaflets. Pedicel 3.5--16.5 cm, sericeous-puberulous to subglabrous. Sepals 4, yellow, sometimes tinged purple, ascending, narrowly ovate, lanceolate, or oblong, 1.5--4 × 0.6--1.4 cm, abaxially sparsely puberulous, adaxially glabrous or rarely puberulous, margin abaxially velutinous, apex cuspidate, acuminate, or acute. Stamens 5--11 mm; filaments puberulous; anthers narrowly oblong, 2--3 mm, glabrous, apex obscurely apiculate to subobtuse. Ovaries puberulous. Style 0.9--1.5 cm, densely villous. Achenes rhombic-obovate, ca. 4.5 × 2.2 mm, puberulous; persistent style to 5 cm, plumose. Fl. Jun--Sep, fr. Sep--Oct.
Forests, slopes, scrub, grassy areas, along river banks or streams; 300--4900 m. Gansu, Qinghai, S Shaanxi, W Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kazakhstan].
