Stems erect to spreading, 1-3 mm thick, hirsute or sometimes glabrous. Basal leaf blades 3-parted or sometimes 3-foliolate, ultimate segments lanceolate or oblanceolate, margins entire or sparsely dentate. Flowers: sepals 5, 4-6 mm; petals 5-6, 6-10 × 3-6 mm. Achenes 2.6-3.6 × 2-2.8 mm, glabrous; beak lance-subulate, straight, 1.2-2.2 mm.

Flowering spring-summer (May-Jul). Wet to dry meadows; 1000-1800 m; Calif., Oreg.

Ranunculus occidentalis var. dissectus is found in the Great Basin, Klamath region, and southern Cascade Mountains. As noted below, it is very similar to var. howellii .