Caltha sagittata is a low to medium height, rhizomatomous perennial herb with ivory (or pale yellow) hermaphrodite flowers, belonging to the Buttercup family.

[3] C. sagittata has creeping rhizomes and eventually can form extensive clusters of plants that may, dependent on location, be up to 30 cm high.

In some northern forms (sometimes regarded as a separate species, C. alata) however, the appendages are in the same plane as the remainder of the leaf blade.

[2][3] C. sagittata is found in Argentina (provinces of Chubut, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza, Neuquen, Rio Negro, Santa Cruz, San Juan, Tierra del Fuego),[4] Bolivia, Chile (Provinces of Coquimbo, O'Higgins, Maule, Bio Bio, Araucania, Los Lagos, Aisen, Magallanes, Reg.

It grows in moist open grassland with other low herbs, on rill banks, snowmelt trickle and sometimes in brackish habitats.