The leaves are dark green, slightly glossy, ovate or oblong, short-stalked, feathery, more or less deeply cut, and usually pointed.

The flowers, usually hermaphrodite, range from white to glowing rose or soft-pink and are gathered in umbels with 11 to 16 stalks.

It grows in burned forests, clearings, herb-rich areas, meadows, waysides, and wooded pastures.

It prefers nutrient-rich substrate and chalk and limestone soils, at an altitude of 0–2,300 m (0–7,546 ft) above sea level.

The roots of Pimpinella major have been used internally in Austrian traditional medicine - as a tisane, in milk, or in herbal liqueurs - for the treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, fever, infections, colds, and influenza.