Leaves 4--9; petiole 5--30 cm, villous or pubescent; leaf blade 3-sect, pentagonal, suborbicular, or orbicular-ovate, 3--7 × 4--12 cm, sparsely pubescent, villous, or subglabrous, margin ciliate; segments petiolulate or subsessile; central segment 3-parted to 3-cleft, rhombic-ovate or broadly rhombic, ultimate lobules ovate to linear; lateral segments unequally 2- or 3-parted, obliquely flabellate. Scapes 1 or 2, 10--50 cm, villous or sparsely puberulent; cyme 1--5(--7)-flowered. Involucral bracts 3 or more; bract blade 3-parted to 3-cleft, broadly rhombic to narrowly obovate, 2--6 cm, usually pubescent. Pedicel 2--5(--8) cm, pubescent. Sepals 5 or 6(or 7), white or yellowish, rarely pinkish, obovate, 12--18 × 6--10 mm, pilose, sparsely puberulent, subglabrous, or glabrous, basal veins 3--9, vein anastomoses 1--3(--5) or absent, base attenuate, apex rounded. Stamens 2--5 mm; filament usually linear, rarely slightly dilated; anther cylindric. Ovary subglobose, compressed, distinctly laterally winged, usually glabrous; style bent, short. Achene body obovoid, 5--8 × 4--6 mm, glabrous, rarely with solitary hairs; wings 0.8--1.4 mm wide; style hooked, 0.8--1.4 mm. Fl. May--Jul.

Two subspecies occur in China, while Anemone narcissiflora subsp. narcissiflora is distributed in Europe, subsp. fasciculata (Linnaeus) Ziman & Fedoronczuk in SW Asia (Caucasus), and both subsp. alaskana Hultén and subsp. zephyra (A. Nelson) A. Löve et al. in North America.

Picea forests, bamboo thickets on slopes, scrub, alpine meadows, grassy slopes; 1800--4000 m. N Hebei, W Nei Mongol, NW Ningxia, Xinjiang, W Yunnan [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, N Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia (Siberia), Tajikistan; SW Asia, Europe, North America].