Plants 15-35 cm tall. Rhizome ca. 0.8-1.5 cm in diam. Leaves 4 or 5, not fully expanded at anthesis; petiole 7-15 cm, densely long pilose; leaf blade broadly ovate, 4.5-14(-24) × 6.5-16(-25) cm, 3-foliolate, abaxially thickly pilose, adaxially glabrous, margin entire or toothed; lateral leaflets unequally 2-lobed, sessile or subsessile; central leaflet petiolulate or sessile, broadly ovate, 3-lobed, central lobe obovate. Scape 1(or 2), 2.5-5.5 cm, to 23 cm in fruit, puberulent; involucral bracts puberulent, basally connate into a 3-10 mm tube, apically palmately 3-lobed, each lobe linear, margin entire or slightly 3-lobed. Sepals violet, erect, oblong-ovate, 2.8-4.4 × 0.9-2 cm, abaxially puberulent; stamens ca. 1/2 as long as sepals; anthers yellow. Infructescences 9-12 cm in diam. Achenes 3.5-4 mm, flattened, sparsely puberulent. Persistent styles 3.5-6.5 cm.

Anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, astringent and sedative (root)

Plants For A Future

The root is an effective cure for bacterial and amoebic dysentery. It is also used in the treatment of malaria, nose bleeds and hemorrhoids and is used externally to treat Trichomonas vaginitis. It is most commonly taken as a decoction to counter infection within the gastro-intestinal tract.