Carum filicinum Franchet, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, sér. 8, 6: 121. 1894; Cryptotaeniopsis filicina (Franchet) H. de Boissieu; Pimpinella filicina (Franchet) Diels.

Plants 25–40 cm. Stems 1–2, 1–2-branched or unbranched. Basal leaves petiolate, petioles 3–7 cm; blade triangular-ovate, 2–8 × 2–4 cm, ternate or ternate-2-pinnate; ultimate segments flabelliform or lanceolate, 7–16 × 3–9 mm. Upper leaves 2-ternate; ultimate segments elongate-linear, 20–40 × 1–2 mm. Umbels 2–3.5 cm across in flower, to 9 in fruit; bracts absent; rays 7–24, 2–4 cm; bracteoles 2–3, 0.3–1 mm; umbellules 2(–3)-flowered; pedicels 0.2–1.5 mm. Calyx teeth minute, almost obsolete, triangular, ca. 0.05 mm. Petals white, 0.9–0.5 mm. Stylopodium low-conic; styles shorter than stylopodium, ca. 0.15 mm, reflexed. Fruit oblong-ovoid, 2.5–3 × 0.7–1 mm; ribs filiform; vittae 1–2 in each furrow, 2 on commissure. Fl. Apr–Jun, fr. Jul–Sep.

Specific boundaries with the following species, Pternopetalum tanakae, are indistinct and need further work.

Coniferous forests, grassy slopes; 1500–3900 m. Gansu, W Hubei, Qinghai, Shaanxi, NE and W Sichuan, NW Yunnan.