Stems simple or branched, erect or ± sprawling. Leaf blade: primary leaflets 7-13; leaflets and larger lobes narrowly to broadly lanceolate or ovate, 1-6 cm × 5-15 mm, surfaces nearly glabrous to sparsely hirsute.

Flowering spring-summer. Dry to moist mountain meadows, thickets, and rocky slopes; 1500-3200 m; Colo., Nebr., N.Mex., Okla., S.Dak., Wyo.

The leaflets of Clematis hirsutissima var. scottii are usually more widely spaced than those of C . hirsutissima var. hirsutissima .