It forms large clumps of dark green, ternate, basal leaves on long petioles (leaf stalks).

The flower is approximately 8 cm (3.1 in) across with 7–11 white, pink, or rose sepals (no petals) each having a silky sheen on the backside.

As reported by Joseph Paxton at the time, gardeners crossed the so-called Japanese anemone E. japonica with E. vitifolia to produce a hardy fall-blooming hybrid with rose-colored flowers.

European horticulturalists in Great Britain, Germany, and France subsequently introduced dozens of cultivars.

Commonly called Japanese anemone hybrids, the cultivars of E. × hybrida have single, semi-double, or double flowers with white, pink, or purple sepals.