Herbs perennial, woody based. Rhizome much branched. Flowering stems ascending, 4–10 cm tall, appressed pilose. Radical leaves 1.5–4 cm including petiole; stipules dark brown, membranous, abaxially sparsely sericeous-villous or subglabrous; petiole appressed pilose; leaf blade palmately 5-foliolate; leaflets sessile or subsessile, obovate or obovate-oblong, 5–10 × 3–6 mm, subequal, both surfaces appressed white villous or sericeous-villous, base cuneate or broadly so, margin usually 2- or 3-serrate, apex obtuse. Inflorescence axillary, corymbose and many flowered or a solitary flower. Flowers 4–6 mm in diam., unisexual or bisexual, shorter or longer than subtending leaf. Sepals triangular-ovate, apex acute; epicalyx segments lanceolate, slightly shorter than sepals, abaxially sparsely white pilose, apex acute. Petals 5, purple-red, obovate-oblong, apex emarginate. Disk well developed, purple-red. Stamens 5, alternating with petals. Style lateral. Achenes ovoid, purple-brown, glabrous. Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug.

Forest margins, alpine meadows, rock crevices; 3600--4700 m. Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, NW India, ?Kashmir, Nepal, Sikkim].