Saw-wort is a spineless hairless perennial herb with wiry branched erect grooved stems.

The leaves, which are arranged alternately along the stem, vary in shape and dimensions, ranging from undivided and lanceolate to deeply pinnatifid with narrow lobes.

It typically favours moist soils with full sun to partial shade, growing in grasslands, mires, open woodland, and scrub as well as their ecotones.

[5] The European range extends as far north as southern Sweden and Norway, but the plant is absent from much of the Boreal Zone (northern Poland, Russia, Fennoscandia, and the Baltic States) and the lowland Mediterranean.

[5] S. tinctoria has declined in Britain since at least the 19th century, primarily through a combination of drainage, ploughing and agricultural improvement as well as lack of management by cutting and grazing in grassland.