Perennial herb 1.0-1.8 m tall; lower part of stem glabrous, usually green, but sometimes reddish; leaves all on stem and absent from the stem base at the time of anthesis, petioles 5-12 cm long, blades 8-16 cm long and 6-10 cm wide, palmately divided into 5 main lobes and each lobe further dissected into additional lobes or teeth; inflorescence of racemes (often branched) with 20-100 flowers, branches and pedicels with short hairs; sepals brownish- or yellowish-purple in bud and with age, glandular, hairy, lateral sepals forward pointing, 8-12 mm long, the upper sepal extended basally into a spur 8-11 mm long; petal blades, cleft, 3-5 mm long, covered with long yellowish hairs. Flowers July to September.