Plants 50–200 cm. Taproot roughened; rootstock stout, gray-brown, often purplish-tinged, annular leaf scars numerous and conspicuous. Leaf blade triangular-ovate in outline, 2–3-ternate, rarely 2-pinnate; pinnae 3 pairs, ternate or pinnate; terminal pinnules ovate-rhombic, 3-lobed, base cuneate, apex long acuminate, lateral pinnules oblique-ovate, 3-lobed or undivided, 2–5 × 1.5–5 cm, abaxially glaucous, margins coarsely toothed. Umbels 7–15(–20) cm across; bracts absent or 1, deciduous; rays 15–30, unequal, pubescent; bracteoles numerous, linear-lanceolate, shorter than the flowers; umbellules 10–30-flowered. Calyx teeth triangular-ovate, ca. 1.2 mm. Petals white. Styles slender, ca. 1.5 mm. Fruit ovoid-ellipsoid, 6–7 × 3–4 mm, tawny or gray-tawny, dorsal ribs slightly prominent, lateral ribs winged, wing ca. 1/3 width of body, thin; vittae 3 in each furrow, 8–10 on commissure. Fl. Jul–Sep, fr. Oct–Nov.

Wet rocky slopes, grassy places; 700–2000 m. Chongqing, N Guangdong, NE Guangxi, E Guizhou, W Hubei, Hunan, W Jiangxi, NE Sichuan.