Plants perennial, 30–200 cm, pubescent throughout. Roots fibrous. Stem solitary, branched. Basal petioles 2–13 cm; blade ternate, leaflets ovate-cordate, 1.5–6 × 1–5 cm, margins coarsely serrate, rarely simple or 1-pinnate. Cauline leaves reduced upwards, 1-pinnate or 3-lobed, lobes narrow, lanceolate, often lacerate. Umbels 3–7 cm across; bracts 1–5, lanceolate, or absent; rays 6–15(–30), 1–4 cm; bracteoles 1–8, linear, 1–2 mm, shorter than pedicels; umbellules 3–6 mm across, 6–20-flowered; pedicels 1–3 mm, unequal. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals white, obovate, hairy abaxially, base cuneate, apex with incurved lobule. Stylopodium conic; styles ca. 2–3 × stylopodium. Fruit ovoid, 1.3–1.6 × 1.3–1.6 mm, base cordate, surface shortly papillose-pubescent; vittae 2–3 in each furrow, 4–6 on commissure. Seed face plane. Fl. May–Sep, fr. Aug–Nov.

This widespread and very variable species has reputed medicinal value in C China.

Forests, forest margins, montane thickets, montane scrub and grasslands, grassy slopes, streamsides; 200–3300 m. Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Qinghai, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Japan, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim, Vietnam].