Herbs, perennial, 0.4-1.5 m tall, sometimes to 2 m. Roots densely fasciculate, long, narrow. Stems pale green or often purplish, much branched, especially in upper 1/2, erect to scrambling over other vegetation, ca. 2 mm in diam. at base. Radical leaves early withering; cauline leaves 4-8, distant; petiole often purplish, 10-20(-31) cm, or upper leaves subsessile; blade very glaucous abaxially, dark green or slightly glaucous adaxially, deltoid, 7-10(-18) × 7-15(-20) cm, bi- to triternate; primary pinnae long petiolulate, ultimate leaflets shortly stalked or sessile, entire or irregularly deeply 2-5-divided; lobes broadly ovate to obovate to oblanceolate, apex mucronate. Racemes not forming a dense panicle, usually simple, 6-12 cm, 10-22-flowered; bracts lanceolate, 3-7 mm, entire (lowermost sometimes larger and divided). Pedicel 3-6 mm, slender, straight in flower, recurved in fruit. Sepals white, scalelike, 0.5-1 × ca. 1 mm, dentate. Corolla yellow; outer petals rather broad at apex, subacute, mucronate, narrowly crested, crest long decurrent on spur, rarely absent; upper petal 12-16 mm; spur upcurved, sometimes slightly downcurved at very apex, cylindric or slightly attenuate, 8-12 mm; nectary ca. 4/5 as long to almost as long as spur; inner petals ca. 7 mm, claw slightly shorter than limb; dorsal crests rounded, clearly overtopping apex. Stigma often dark, didymous, apex with 4(or 6) short papillae, basal lobes not developed. Capsule oblong, 7-13 × ca. 2 mm, 3-6-seeded; style 2.5-3 mm. Seeds nearly orbicular, smooth. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.
● Forests, forest margins, among shrubs, grasslands, slopes, burned areas; (1800-)2100-3400(-4000) m. SW Sichuan (Muli, Yanyuan), N and NW Yunnan.
