Rootstock long, slender. Stems 15-70 cm tall, branching sparsely in the upper region, pubescent. Radical leaves biternate, petioles upto 15 cm long; leaflets 8-30 cm long and wide, sessile or with short petioles, trifid usually to the base, the segments lobed, glabrous, green above, paler and hairy beneath. Stem leaves similar but reduced in size, uppermost ones only with 1-3 linear to oblong-lanceolate lobes. Flowers 2-several. Sepals 5-28 x 9-17 mm, ovate-lanceolate, acute or with an elongated tip, ± puberulous, dark red to purplish-blue; petals of the same colour; lamina 10-15 mm long, rounded, ± puberulous, spurs strongly hooked, 4-12 mm long, 7-9 mm wide at the base (when compressed); staminodes 5-6 mm, oblong-lanceolate. Carpels 5-6, densely pubescent. Follicles 13-20 mm long, erect or slightly spreading, pubescent, with 5-8 mm long hooked pubescent styles.