Diptera sarmentosa (Linnaeus f.) Losinskaja; Ligularia sarmentosa (Linnaeus f.) Haworth; Rupifraga sarmentosa (Linnaeus f.) Rafinesque; Saxifraga chaffanjonii H. Léveillé; S. chinensis Loureiro (1790), not S. sinensis Engler & Irmscher (1919); S. cuscutiformis Loddiges; S. dumetorum I. B. Balfour; S. fortunei J. D. Hooker var. tricolor Lemaire; S. iochanensis H. Léveillé; S. ligulata Murray (1781), not Wallich (1820); S. sarmentosa Linnaeus f.; S. sarmentosa var. cuscutiformis (Loddiges) Seringe; S. sarmentosa var. immaculata Diels; S. sarmentosa var. tricolor (Lemaire) Maximowicz; S. stolonifera Meerburgh (1775), not Curtis (1774); S. stolonifera f. cuscutiformis (Loddiges) M. C. Tebbitt; S. stolonifera var. immaculata (Diels) Handel-Mazzetti; S. veitchiana I. B. Balfour; Sekika sarmentosa (Linnaeus f.) Moench.

Plants 8-45 cm tall. Stolons filiform, densely crisped glandular villous, with scaly leaves. Stem glandular villous. Basal leaves with petiole 15-21 cm, glandular piliferous; leaf blade spotted, subcordate or reniform to orbicular, 1.5-7.5 × 2-12 cm, (5-)7-11-lobed, glandular hairy, base subtruncate or rounded to cordate, margin irregularly dentate, apex obtuse or acute. Cauline leaves and bracts 1-4, lanceolate, ca. 6 × 2 mm. Inflorescence 7-61-flowered. Sepals spreading to reflexed, ovate, 1.5-3.5 × 1-1.8 mm, abaxially and marginally glandular hairy, 3-veined; veins confluent at apex. Petals 5, white, spotted, of which largest two lanceolate-oblong, 0.6-1.5 cm × 2-4 mm, base clawed, apex acute, pinniveined; smallest three petals ovate, 2-4.4 × 1.3-2 mm. Stamens 4-5.2 mm. Ovary ovoid, with a semiannular nectary disc; styles divergent. Fl. and fr. Apr-Nov. 2n = 30, 36*, 54.

Forests, scrub, meadows, shaded rock crevices; 400-4500 m. Anhui, Fujian, SE Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, WC Hebei (Xiaowutai Shan), Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, E Sichuan, Taiwan, E and SW Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].