Aerial shoots 5-15 cm. Leaves: petiole 4-12 cm; terminal leaflet of basal leaves 1-2.5 × 1-2 cm, pilose; lateral leaflets unlobed or occasionally 1×-lobed; ultimate lobes 4-8 mm wide. Inflorescences: involucral bracts with terminal leaflet of 1-2 × 0.5-1 cm wide, base ± narrowly cuneate, margins crenate or serrate to dentate, apex acuminate to narrowly acute, surfaces pilose; lateral leaflets unlobed, rarely slightly 1×-lobed). Flowers: sepals (7-)8(-11) × ca. 4 mm; stamens 30-40. Pedicel 1-4 cm in fruit. Achenes: body 2.5-3 mm. 2 n =32.

Flowering spring (Apr-May). Damp, frequently acidic, wooded hillsides; 600-1000 m; N.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.