Stems erect, never rooting nodally, hispid, base not bulbous. Roots never tuberous. Basal leaf blades broadly cordate in outline, 3-foliolate, 1.6-7 × 3-9 cm, leaflets cleft, usually deeply so, ultimate segments narrowly elliptic, margins toothed, apex acute. Flowers: receptacle hirsute; sepals reflexed ca. 1 mm above base, 3-5 × 1.5-2 mm, ± hispid; petals 5, yellow, 2-4 × 1-2.5 mm. Heads of achenes cylindric, 9-12 × 5-7 mm; achenes 1.8-2.8 × 1.6-2 mm, glabrous, margin forming narrow rib 0.1-0.2 mm wide; beak persistent, broadly lanceolate or nearly deltate, straight or nearly so, 0.6-0.8 mm. 2 n = 16. Flowering late spring-summer (Jun-Aug). Stream banks, bogs, moist clearings, depressions in woodlands; 0-1700 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Alaska, Ariz., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo. Ojibwa tribes used Ranunculus pensylvanicus as a hunting medicine; the Potawatomi used it as an astringent for miscellaneous diseases (D. E. Moerman 1986).