Plants perennial, 30–75 cm. Root cylindric, black-brown, 8–15 × 0.8–2 cm. Stem purplish green, thinly ribbed, densely pubescent above. Petioles 5–20 cm, sheaths narrow-oblong, spinulose; blade broad-ovate, 10–25 × 11–28 cm, 1–2-ternate-pinnate; leaflets ovate or oblong-ovate, ca. 6 × 3.5 cm, base obtuse-rounded, often 1–2-lobed, margin crenulate, apex acuminate, densely hispid along nerves on both surfaces. Umbels ca. 15 cm across; peduncles 2–6 cm; bracts 1–3, deciduous; rays 25–55; bracteoles 8–10, subulate, ciliate, 5–7 mm, longer than pedicels; umbellules 30–40-flowered. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals white, obovate, notched. Fruit ellipsoid or narrow-ellipsoid, 4–5 × 2–3 mm, base truncate; dorsal ribs filiform, lateral ribs narrow-winged; vittae 1 in each furrow, 4 on commissure. Fl. Jul–Aug, fr. Aug–Sep. n = 11*.

The roots are used in Chongqing as a regional substitute for the traditional Chinese medicine “dang gui” (see Angelica sinensis).

Damp grasslands, crevices of slopes; 1000–1800 m. Chongqing.