Stems 20-50(-80) cm; base often reddish, pubescent. Leaves cauline, 5-14, on proximal 1/5 of stem at anthesis; petiole 0.4-9 cm. Leaf blade round to pentagonal, 1.5-6 × 3-11 cm, puberulent; ultimate lobes 5-15, width 1-7(-15) mm. Inflorescences 5-18-flowered; pedicel 1-4.5 cm, pubescent; bracteoles 2-7 mm from flowers, blue, linear, 5-8 mm, puberulent. Flowers: sepals dark blue, apex rounded, puberulent, lateral sepals forward pointing, 17-24 × 7-9 mm, spurs straight to slightly decurved, ascending 30-60° above horizontal, 15-17 mm; lower petal blades ± covering stamens, 5-7 mm, clefts 0.5-1.5 mm; hairs sparse, local, centered, mostly above base of cleft, white. Fruits 14-17 mm, 3.5-4 times longer than wide, pubescent. Seeds wing-margined; seed coat cells ± elongate, surfaces roughened.

Flowering summer. Well-drained tundra slopes; 0-1600 m; Yukon; Alaska; e Asia.

Hybrids with Delphinium glaucum are known as D . × nutans A. Nelson.