Stems erect to reclining, 2-3 mm thick, pilose or glabrous. Basal leaf blades 3-parted, ultimate segments elliptic or narrowly elliptic, margins dentate. Flowers: sepals 5, 5-7 mm; petals 5-6, 8-12 × 3-8 mm. Achenes 3-3.4 × 2.6-3 mm, glabrous; beak lanceolate, curved, 1.2-1.4 mm. 2 n = 28.

Flowering spring-summer (May-Aug). Coastal and mountain meadows; 0-1000 m; Alta., B.C., Yukon; Alaska.

Ranunculus occidentalis var. brevistylis may be difficult to distinguish from var. occidentalis ; the two have sometimes been combined. The pubescence character distinguishing them is well correlated with geography, however, so I am provisionally maintaining both of them.