Stems ± reclining, 1-3 mm thick, hirsute or sometimes glabrous. Basal leaf blades 3-foliolate, rarely merely 3-parted, ultimate segments oblong or elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate, margins dentate or dentate-lobulate. Flowers: sepals 5, 4-6 mm; petals 5-6, 6-8 × 1.5-2.5 mm. Achenes 3-3.4 × 2-2.6 mm, glabrous, rarely hispid; beak lanceolate, curved, 0.4-1.2 mm.

Flowering spring-summer (May-Jul). Meadows; 1300-2100 m; Calif., Nev., Oreg.

Ranunculus occidentalis var. ultramontanus is found at middle elevations in the Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades, and northeastern Coast Ranges. It intergrades with var. occidentalis in the region of elevational overlap.