Aerial shoots (7-)10-25 cm. Basal leaves 5-12(-15); petiole 5-9 cm; leaflets nearly glabrous or pilose; ultimate segments of lateral leaflets 1.5-2.6 mm wide. Inflorescences: peduncle pilose; involucral bracts nearly glabrous or pilose; ultimate segments of lateral leaflets 1.5-2.6 mm wide. Flowers: sepals white, tinged blue, rarely abaxially white and blue, adaxially white, abaxially hairy; filaments yellow. Heads of achenes spheric. 2 n =48. Flowering summer (Jun-Aug). Slopes, ridges; 2100-3300m; Alta., B.C., N.W.T., Yukon; Alaska, Idaho, Mont., Wyo.