Its habitats include arctic tundra, subarctic and subalpine forests, mountain meadows, and bogs.

The female wing uppersides are almost entirely brown but with a slightly bluish pollination in the basal region.

Both sexes have white-rimmed black dots on the pale grey-brown ground of the forewing underside, while the underside of the hind wings reveals striking white spots and occasionally orange-colored dots on the greyish-brown ground.

In the Alps and the Pyrenees, the more local and less frequent, Aricia nicias, has fine underside markings and a white stripe.

Some authors also consider all the above North American subspecies to belong to one separate species, which they call Agriades franklinii.