Leaves 5--15, petiole 3--15 cm × 2--3 mm, villous; leaf blade 3-sect or sometimes 3-parted, ovate, 2--5 × 2--3 cm, densely long hairy or sparsely shortly hairy, base subcordate or subtruncate; central segment petiolulate (petiolule 5--10 mm), 3-lobed or undivided, broadly rhombic, longer or much longer than lateral ones (ratio 2 or 3:1); lateral segments petiolulate (petiolule 1--3 mm), 2- or 3-lobed. Scapes 2--5, 5--25 cm, villous or pubescent; cyme 1-flowered. Involucral bract blade undivided or 3-lobed, 1--2 cm, puberulent. Pedicel 1--2(--6) cm, puberulent. Sepals 5(--8), white, yellowish, mauve, or blue, broadly ovate, 5--12 × 4--9 mm, abaxially pubescent, basal veins 3(--5), vein anastomoses absent. Stamens light brown, 2--2.8 mm; filament linear-lanceolate, 0.5--1.0 mm wide; anther yellow, narrowly ellipsoid, connective brown, narrow. Staminodes sometimes present. Pistils narrowly ovoid, 2--3 mm, pubescent or glabrous. Achene body ovoid, sometimes slightly compressed, 3--4.8 × 1.6--2.3 mm, without ribs, villous (hairs 0.8--1.3 mm) or sometimes subglabrous, base narrowed; style usually straight, conic, 1.8--2.6 mm. Fl. May--Sep.

Scrub, alpine meadows; 1900--5000 m. Gansu, W Hebei, N Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, SW Shanxi, Sichuan, S Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [N India, Nepal, Sikkim].