Perennial from a branching caudex, woody at the base, 1-3 dm; lvs mostly near the base; lfls 3, palmate, firm, oblong-lanceolate, (1-)1.5-2.5(-3) cm, entire below, shallowly 3(-5)-toothed at the truncate summit, glabrous above, obscurely strigose beneath; fls several in a flattened cyme, white, 1-1.5 cm wide; bractlets lanceolate, somewhat
shorter than the acute, triangular-ovate sep; ovary and achenes villous; style lateral; 2n=14, 28. Rocks and gravelly shores, sometimes at high elev.; Greenl. to Mack., s. to Conn., Mich., Io., and in the mts. to Ga. June-Aug. (Sibbaldiopsis t.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.