[1][2] It inhabits forest edges, swampy and damp meadows, clearings and river banks, at an elevation of 400–1,800 metres (1,300–5,900 ft) above sea level.

Darker coppery golden with bluish sheen, both wings of the male broadly edged with black, inclusive of the costal margin of the forewing and the anal one of the hindwing; the female shaded with very dark.

Albinotic specimens have a whitish upperside with a sky-blue instead of violet-blue sheen in the males; this is ab.

(76 h) [now suubspecies eurybia (Ochsenheimer, 1808)] the female is often entirely dark brown above with the markings hardly perceivable, being on the wing hardly recognizable as a Chrysophanus; only occasionally is the disc of the forewing above yellowish and glossy golden.

[now subspecies italica (Calberla, 1887)], from the central and northern Apennines, is a transition from the typical form towards eurybia.

(76 i) [now subspecies amurensisis(Staudinger, 1892) a very large form from North China and Amurland ; the female is very dark, bearing only in the anal area of the hindwing a narrow yellowish red half-band; the ocelli of the underside are strongly developed.

(76 i) [now subspecies sieberi (Gerhard, 1853)] is the smaller form from North Europe with bright golden red ground-colour on the upperside of the female, the underside bearing usually a very distinct yellowish red submarginal band, which in the males is also very prominent on the upperside, whereas it is entirely absent from the males of hippothoe and eurybia.

[now species Lycaena candens] is the form inhabiting the Balkan Peninsula and Anterior Asia.

The males have no blue sheen and the forewing above is entirely golden brown in the females; the black margin of the upperside is narrower in both sexes.

— Ter Haar describes some specimens obtained by him at Groningen in the Netherlands which he says have the blue sheen peculiarly modified, being condensed in violet-blue streaks and dots; he calls this form from its habitat ab.

Pupa yellowish brown like leather, spotted with black; it lies free on the ground (Fryer).

The butterflies appear at the end of May, in the northern districts a little later (early in June) and are found until late in July in luxuriant meadows, where they settle on umbellifers or in the grass, the males always with the wings half open.