Shrubs 0.3–2(–3) m tall. Young branchlets sparsely pubescent, older ones covered with grayish brown, peeling bark. Stipules thinly membranous, sparsely pilose or subglabrous; petiole sparsely pilose; leaf blade pinnate with 2(or 3) pairs of leaflets; leaflets oblong, obovate-elliptic, or ovate-elliptic, 0.5–1.2 cm × 4–8 mm, both surfaces sparsely (rarely densely) pilose, sericeous, or glabrescent, base cuneate or rounded, decurrent and adnate to rachis in apical pair of leaflets, margin entire, flat or slightly revolute, apex obtuse or acute. Flowers 1 to several, terminal on separate branches, 1.5–2.5 cm in diam.; pedicel long, thin, sparsely pilose. Sepals ovate, apex acute or shortly mucronate; epicalyx segments lanceolate, obovate-lanceolate, or ovate, shorter than or nearly equaling sepals, abaxially sparsely pilose. Petals white, obovate, apex rounded. Style sub-basal, clavate, thin at base, constricted at base of dilated stigma. Achenes hairy. Fl. and fr. May–Nov.

Forests, forest margins, thickets, meadows, slopes, alpine talus slopes, ravines, open places, rocky places; 1200--4200 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Hubei, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].