Leaves persistent, 2(-3)-ternately compound, 10-30 cm; petiole 1-15 cm, sparsely hairy, becoming glabrous. Leaflet blades rounded-deltate to rounded-pentagonal, often broader than long, obscurely 3-lobed, base cordate, margins conspicuously thickened, crisped, apex minutely notched; surfaces abaxially glabrous or sparsely hairy, adaxially glabrous. Inflorescences: peduncle 1-2 dm; pedicel 1-3 cm, stipitate-glandular. Flowers 20-50; bracteoles 6-9, white to yellow, glands absent; sepals 6, white to yellow, oblanceolate, 4-5 mm, glands absent; petals 6, white, sometimes lavender-tinged, 3-4 mm, margins entire, apex notched, not reflexed, lateral lobes bearing nectaries, nectaries golden; filaments without glands. Follicles greenish brown, 4-7 mm including beak, beak 2 mm, glands absent. Seeds 1-2, black, lunate, 3-4 mm. 2 n = 24.

Flowering spring (May-Jun); fruiting spring-summer (Jun-Jul). Redwood forests, shaded areas; 50-1700 m; Calif., Oreg.