Herbs biennial, 15-60 cm tall. Stems erect, angled, glabrous. Basal and lowermost cauline leaves petiolate; petiole 0.5-3(-4.5) cm, glabrous or ciliate; leaf blade 1.5-7 cm, lyrate-pinnatifid, with 1-4(-7) lobes on each side of midvein, not fleshy; lateral lobes oblong or ovate, 3-10(-15) × 1-5(-7) mm, entire or repand; terminal lobe ovate, considerably larger than lateral ones, 1-3 × 0.7-1.5 cm. Cauline leaves pinnatifid or pinnatisect, with 1-4 lateral lobes, entire, sessile, conspicuously auriculate; auricles ovate or narrowly oblong, to 10 × 5 mm, ciliate; lateral lobes linear to linear-oblong, to 2.5 × 0.5 cm, glabrous or ciliate, entire; terminal lobe obovate-oblong, larger than lateral lobes and to 4 × 1.5 cm, entire or repand or rarely dentate. Racemes ebracteate, elongated considerably in fruit. Sepals yellow, oblong, 2-3 × 1-1.3 mm, erect, margin scarious, lateral pair slightly saccate. Petals yellow, oblanceolate, rounded, 4-6 × 1-1.5 mm, attenuate to base. Filaments yellow, 3-4 mm; anthers oblong, ca. 1 mm. Fruiting pedicels erect or ascending, rarely divaricate, (2-)3-5 mm, terete or subquadrangular, glabrous, stout, slightly narrower than fruit. Fruit linear, (1-)1.5-3 cm × 1.5-1.8(-2) mm, terete or slightly compressed, torulose, erect to erect-ascending; gynophore to 0.5 mm; valves apex acute to subobtuse; style slender or slightly stout, 1-1.5 mm. Seeds brown, ovate to ovate-oblong, 1.2-1.7 × 1-1.2 mm, uniseriate, somewhat plump or slightly compressed, wingless. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 16.

Woods, along ditches, streamsides; ca. 4100 m. Xinjiang, Xizang [Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim; native to SW Asia and C Europe].