Isopyrum microphyllum Royle, Ill. Bot. Himal. Mts. 1: 54. 1839; I. grandiflorum Fischer ex de Candolle var. microphyllum (Royle) Finet & Gagnepain.

Leaves usually 2-ternate, glabrous; petiole 2.5--11 cm; leaf blade green, deltoid-ovate, ca. 1.5 × 2--6 cm; leaflet long to shortly petiolate, broadly rhombic to flabellate, 4--8 × 4--10 mm, 3-parted to 3-sect, base broadly cuneate; segments narrowly rhombic-obovate, base obliquely cuneate, margin 2- or 3-lobed. Scapes 3--18 cm tall, glabrous; bracts narrowly oblanceolate, 4--12 mm. Flowers 2.8--5 cm in diam. Pedicel 0.3--3 cm, glabrous. Sepals purplish to purplish red, rarely white, obovate to elliptic-obovate, 1.4--2.5 × 0.9--1.5 cm, apex subrounded. Petals obovate to elliptic-obovate, ca. 5 mm, apex retuse. Stamens 6--9 mm, glabrous; filament 5--8.5 mm; anthers 0.8--1 mm. Pistils 5(--8), glabrous. Follicles erect, 0.9--1.2 cm; persistent styles 2--4 mm. Seeds brown, narrowly ovoid, 1.3--1.8 mm, smooth, narrowly winged. Fl. Jun--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.

Cliffs, fissures of rocks; 2700--4300 m. SW Gansu, Qinghai, W Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kazakhstan, Nepal, N Pakistan, Russia, Sikkim, Tajikistan].