An annual or perennial, simple or branched herb. Stem with sparse, simple, bulbous, spiny hairs. Blade ovate and not lobed in the lowermost part, in the upper part 3-7 partite; lobes elliptic-lanceolate, coarsely serrate, nearly glabrous on both sides; stipules 6-8 mm long, filiform; petiole 4-15 cm long, almost somewhat spiny near the top. Flowers axillary, solitary, subsessile; epicalyx segments 7-8, linear, 6-10 mm long, sparsely prickly. Calyx fused at the base, 1-2.5 cm long, wooly, also setose or prickly, lobes long acuminate-aristate, with a swollen, linear gland on the central nerve at the base. Corolla yellow with a crimson centre, 3-5 cm across; petals obovate, 4-6 cm long, 2-4 cm broad. Staminal column inserted. Capsule 1.5-2 cm long, c. 1 cm across, conical, beaked, appressed-setose. Seeds many, 2-3 mm long, brown.