Ligularia intermedia var. oligantha Nakai; L. sibirica (Linnaeus) Cassini subsp. intermedia (Nakai) Kitamura; L. sinica Kitagawa; Senecillis intermedia (Nakai) Kitamura.

Stem erect, to 100 cm tall, to 1 cm in diam. at base, proximally glabrous, distally white arachnoid-puberulent. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 16-43 cm, glabrous, base narrowly sheathed; leaf blade cordate or reniform, 8-16 × 12-23.5 cm, glabrous, palmately veined, margin regularly sharply triangular-dentate, apex obtuse or mucronate; sinus ca. 1/3 as long as leaf blade, broad. Middle to distal stem leaves similar but smaller, shortly petiolate or sessile; sheath slightly enlarged. Distalmost stem leaves bracteal, ovate-lanceolate. Synflorescence racemose, 22-25 cm; leaflike bracts linear or linear-lanceolate, proximal ones to 3 cm, smaller distally; peduncles 3-10 mm, glabrescent. Capitula numerous; supplementary bracts linear. Involucre campanulate, 8-11 × 4-5 mm, outside glabrous; phyllaries 6-8, in 2 rows, oblong, ca. 3 mm wide, margin membranous, apex triangular-acute. Ray florets 4-6, yellow; lamina oblong, 1.7-2 cm × ca. 3 mm, apex obtuse; tube ca. 7 mm. Tubular florets 7-12, extending from involucre, 1-1.1 cm; tube ca. 6 mm, base slightly thick. Achenes cylindric, 5-7 mm. Pappus purplish brown, sometimes white, shorter than tube of tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

Stream banks, grassy slopes, forest understories, alpine meadows; 100-3400 m. Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, NE and NW Yunnan [Korea].