A dioecious or polygamo-monoecious plant, 11-38 cm tall. Rootstock with slender roots. Scape solitary or 2-3, glabrous, striate. Nodes minutely pilose. Radical leaves entire, crenulate or subserrate, oblong to suborbiculate, 1-2.5 cm x 0.8-1.6 cm; nerves prominent; petiole up to 6.5 cm long. Lower cauline leaves pinnati-partite, with 1-3 lateral lobes, the terminal one largest, ovate-oblong to elliptic-ovate, entire or slightly toothed; the uppermost cauline leaves with narrower segments. Flowers in dichotomous corymbs or compact heads, pink or white. Upper bracts lanceolate, c. 4 mm long, acute or obtuse. Ovary glabrous; stigma 2-3-fid. Achene 2.5-3 mm long, glabrous, shorter than the upper bracts; pappus segments 10-13.

Fl. Per.: June-August.

Type: NW. Himalaya, Tihri-Garwhal, 15-16000', Duthie 1171 (LE).

Distribution: N.W. Asia, Kashmir and the Karakorums.

Fairly common in marshy or moist places, also in shade, among rocks or meadows from 3500-5000 m. The female flower can be recognised by its smaller size and the exserted 2-3-fid stigma; the male flowers are broader with more or less included anthers.