Erect, ± tufted, perennial herbs, 15-60 (-70) cm tall, usually simple, somewhat glaucous, glabrous, often with radical leaves as long as the stem and 0-2, ± opposite cauline leaves down below the stem; rootstock thickened, covered with withered sheathing bases of leaves, often a few twisted together, slender, elongated. Radical leaves few to many, twice pinnate, nearly as long as the stem, with petiole as long or longer than lamina; pinnae shortly petioluled, very variable in size and segmentation, 1-4 (-6) cm long, ovate-oblong to suborbicular, 3-5 pinnuled; pinnules shortly stalked to subsessile or sessile, deeply dissected and variously cut into narrow ultimate segments (lobules); lobules ovate-oblong, (5-) 10-15 (-20) mm long, (1-) 2-5 mm broad, apex obtuse, subobtuse to sub-rounded, minutely mucronate. Cauline leaves usually 2, opposite or subopposite, down below the middle of the stem, smaller, like the radical leaves to very much reduced, simply dentate to almost entire and lanceoloate. Racemes 10-25 (-40)-flowered, generally simple, often dense, 5-10 cm long, increasing upto 15 cm in fruit; bracts much dissected to entire, very variable, 10-30 (-50) mm long, (3-) 5-15 (-20) mm broad, the upper ones usually subentire or entire. Flowers yellow, 20-25 mm long, including spur about half as long, subobtuse, straight to somewhat down-curved. Sepals minute, c 1. mm in diam., whitish, conspicuously denticulate. Outer petals (upper and lower both) dorsally winged, lower sub-saccate at base. Pedicel (5-) 10-15 mm long in fruit deflexed. Capsule 10-15 mm long, 3-4 mm broad, oblong, somewhat narrowed towards the base and subrounded to sub-obtuse at the apex, usually 6-8 seeded; style 2.5-3 (-4) mm long, curved at the apex with broad stigma; seeds biseriate, 1.5-2 mm in diam., shining black.