Aconitum anthora Linnaeus var. gilvum Maximowicz; A. gilvum ( Maximowicz) Handel-Mazzetti.

Caudex carrot-shaped, ca. 4.5 cm, ca. 8 mm in diam. Stem 35--100 cm, usually simple, basally glabrous, apically retrorse and appressed pubescent, with crowded leaves. Proximal cauline leaves withered at anthesis; middle ones shortly petiolate; petiole 3--4 mm; leaf blade broadly ovate, 3.8--5.5 × 3.6--4.5 cm, both surfaces glabrous, or margin pubescent, base shallowly cordate, 3-sect; segments dissected, ultimate lobes linear. Inflorescence 8--18 cm, 12--25-flowered; rachis and pedicels densely appressed pubescent; proximal bracts similar to leaves, those above middle linear. Petals 4--8 mm, with 2 bracteoles at apex; bracteoles linear, 3--6 mm. Sepals yellow and greenish or dark purple, abaxially pubescent; lower sepals obliquely oblong-ovate, ca. 1--1.4 cm; lateral sepals ca. 1.5 cm; upper sepal galeate-navicular, 1.5--1.6 cm high, shortly clawed, lower margin oblique upward. Petals sparsely pubescent; limb ca. 7 mm; lip ca. 3 mm; spur backward curved, ca. 1 mm. Stamens glabrous or sparsely pubescent; filaments entire. Carpels 5, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Follicles glabrous, 1.1--1.7 cm. Seeds ca. 2.5 mm. Fl. Aug. 2n = 16*.

* Grassy slopes, forests; 2000--3700 m. Gansu, Nei Mongol, S Ningxia, Qinghai, NW Sichuan, N Xizang.