Stolons (2--)7--35 cm. Basal leaves 5--16; petiole (0.6--)1--6.5 cm, narrowly vaginate at base; leaf blade variable in shape and in division, rhombic, broadly cuneate, pentagonal, or elliptic, rarely linear, (0.3--)0.5--2.6 × (1--)0.5--2.2 cm, glabrous, base cuneate, broadly cuneate, truncate, or attenuate, 3-sect, 3-partite, 3-fid, 3-lobed, or rarely undivided. Scapes (0.3--)1--13 cm, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely puberulent. Flowers usually solitary or 2 in a monochasium, (6--)7--12 mm in diam.; bracts linear, 3--5 mm, vaginate at base. Pedicel 0.3--1.9 cm. Sepals 4 or 5, narrowly ovate or elliptic, 3--5 mm, abaxially glabrous or puberulent. Petals 5(or 6), narrowly obovate or oblong, (3.5--)5--6.5 × (1.1--)2--3 mm. Stamens 13--36; anthers broadly elliptic, rarely oblong, 0.5--0.8 mm. Aggregate fruit globose, 3--5.5 mm in diam.; achenes obliquely narrowly obovate, 1--2.4 × 0.6--1.4 mm, glabrous. Persistent style 0.3--0.5 mm.

Meadows, swamps, slopes, damp places, by rivers; 1700--5100 m. SW Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, W Sichuan, S Xinjiang, Xizang [Bhutan, N India, Mongolia, Nepal, N Pakistan].