Herbs perennial. Rhizomes short. Stems 12--65 cm, hispid or strigose toward base, rarely subglabrous or glabrous, strigose above, branched. Basal leaves 3--6; petiole 3--22(--25) cm, hispid or strigose; blade 3-partite, rarely 3-sect or ternate, cordate-pentagonal, 1.2--6.5(--10) × 2--10(--16) cm, papery, strigose, base cordate, central segment cuneate-rhombic to broadly rhombic, 3-lobed, margin unequally dentate; lateral segments obliquely flabellate, unequally 2-cleft. Stem leaves smaller, short petiolate or sessile. Compound monochasium terminal, (1--)3--15-flowered. Flowers 1.4--2.4 cm in diam. Pedicel 0.8--10 cm. Receptacle glabrous. Sepals 5, ovate, ca. 5 mm, abaxially strigose. Petals 5, obovate, 7--12 × 6.5--8.5 mm, nectary pit covered by a scale, apex rounded or emarginate. Stamens numerous; anthers oblong. Aggregate fruit subglobose, 4--6 mm in diam. Achene obliquely broadly obovate, 1.8--2.8 × 1.5--2 mm, glabrous, narrowly marginate; style persistent, triangular, 0.2--0.4 mm.

Most Chinese material determined as Ranunculus acris Linnaeus belongs here.

100--3500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, N Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Mongolia, Russia (Far East)].