[3] It is native to western North America from Oregon through California and into Baja California, where it grows in seasonally moist habitat, often on serpentine soils.

[4] This rhizomatous herb produces a cluster of erect stems just a few centimeters in length to about 20 centimeters in maximum height.

The leaf blades are deeply dissected into several narrow lobes or compound, made up of leaflets, and borne on long petioles.

A solitary flower is borne on a long, upright stem.

The largest lowest petal may be over 2 centimeters in length.