Herbs perennial, woody based. Flowering stems prostrate or ascending, 4–30 cm tall, appressed pilose, or strigose throughout. Radical leaves 3–12 cm including petiole; stipules brown, membranous; petiole pilose; leaf blade 3-foliolate; leaflets shortly petiolulate or subsessile, oblong or obovate, 1–3 × 0.6–1.5 cm, abaxially appressed pilose, adaxially sparsely pilose or sometimes glabrous, base cuneate, margin 3–5-dentate, apex truncate; teeth triangular, rarely ovate and acute; cauline leaves 1 or 2, resembling radical ones but petiole shorter; stipules lanceolate or ovate, sparsely pilose, margin entire. Inflorescence terminal, compact, corymbose, 8–12-flowered. Flowers 4–6 mm in diam. Sepals ovate to triangular-ovate, apex acute; epicalyx segments much shorter than to nearly equaling sepals. Petals yellow, obovate-oblong, slightly or much shorter than sepals, apex rounded. Stamens ca. 5. Style lateral. Achenes glabrous. Fl. and fr. Jul–Aug.

Forests, meadows on mountain slopes, dry mountain slopes, grasslands by lakes, rock crevices; 2400--4000 m. Gansu, Jilin, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [widely distributed in N temperate zone, extending N nearly to arctic circle].