Herbs perennial, tufted, pulvinate. Roots stout, terete. Flowering stems erect, 4–12 cm tall, pilose. Radical leaves 2–6 cm including petiole; stipules brown, membranous, abaxially white pilose, later glabrescent; petiole white villous; leaf blade pinnately to palmately 5-foliolate; leaflets adaxially dark green, linear, 0.8–1.7 cm × 1–3 mm, abaxially densely white villous on midvein, adaxially pilose, base decurrent and adnate to rachis in apical pair of leaflets, margin entire and revolute, but in basal pair of leaflets sometimes 2-parted nearly to base, apex acute to acuminate. Flowers 1 or 2(or 3), 1.2–1.8 cm in diam.; pedicel 1–2 cm, pilose, proximally with linear bract. Sepals triangular-ovate, apex acute; epicalyx segments lanceolate, slightly shorter or longer than sepals, abaxially pilose, apex acuminate. Petals yellow, oblong-obovate, 0.5–1 × as long as sepals, apex emarginate. Style subterminal, filiform; stigma hardly dilated. Achenes smooth, hairy around hilum. Fl. and fr. Jun–Oct.

Alpine meadows, talus slopes, gravels, rock crevices near snow line; 2300--4800 m. Gansu, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [N Mongolia, Nepal, Russia (Far East, Siberia); C Asia, North America].