Vines woody. Branches shallowly 6--8-grooved, sparsely puberulous to subglabrous. Leaves mostly 2-pinnate, sometimes 1-pinnate; petiole 1.6--5.5 cm; leaflet blades lanceolate to linear-lanceolate when undivided or ovate when 2- or 3-parted, 1--4 × 0.2--2 cm, papery, both surfaces very sparsely puberulous, glabrescent, base cuneate, margin entire or to 2-denticulate, apex attenuate; midvein flat. Cymes axillary, (1--)3(--5)-flowered; peduncle 0.1--3 cm; bracts petiolate, lanceolate, undivided or 3-lobed. Flowers 2--4 cm in diam. Pedicel 2--3.8 cm, sparsely puberulous to subglabrous. Sepals 4, yellow, rarely purple, ascending, narrowly ovate to suboblong, 1.2--2.3(--2.5) × 0.5--0.8(--1) cm, abaxially glabrous or occasionally apically very sparsely puberulous, adaxially glabrous, margin abaxially velutinous, apex acuminate. Stamens 5--9.5 mm; filaments puberulous; anthers narrowly oblong to linear, 2.5--4 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse. Ovaries puberulous. Style 8--10 mm, densely villous. Achenes elliptic to rhombic-obovate, 2.5--3.2 × 2--2.5 mm, puberulous; persistent style 2.5--4 cm, plumose. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Aug--Sep.

Forests, slopes, scrub; 400--2600 m. Gansu, Hebei, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, E Qinghai, N Shaanxi, Shanxi [S Mongolia].