Herbs perennial, 30--70 cm tall. Roots thick, attenuate toward tip. Stems glabrous. Proximal leaves spreading or ascending, 2-ternate; leaflets obovate, 5--14 × 4--10 cm, glabrous to densely pubescent or hirsute abaxially, glabrous adaxially, base cuneate, margin entire, apex rounded or acute. Flowers solitary, terminal, single, 7--12 cm wide. Bracts 1 or 2, unequal. Sepals (2 or)3(or 4), unequal, 1.5--3 × 1.5--2 cm, apex mostly rounded. Petals 4--7, spreading or incurved, white, rose, pink-red, red, purple-red, or rarely white with a pinkish base or margin, obovate, 3--5.5 × 1.8--2.8 cm. Filaments white, green-yellow, or purple proximally and white distally to wholly purple; anthers yellow, orange-red, or dark purple. Disc yellow, annular. Carpels (1 or)2 or 3(--5), glabrous; ovary green. Stigmas red. Follicles gradually recurved, ellipsoid, 2--3 cm. Seeds black, glossy. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Sep.
Deciduous broad-leaved, mixed broad-leaved, and coniferous forests; 200--2800 m. Anhui, SE Gansu, N Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, SE and W Henan, W Hubei, NW Hunan, N Jiangxi, E Jilin, Liaoning, SE Nei Mongol, S Ningxia, E Qinghai, S Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, NW Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East)].
