Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Idaho and Utah; also in areas of central and eastern U.S.

Habitat: Dry woodlands and waste ground.

Flowers: May-June

Origin: Introduced from Europe

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, flies, butterflies, beetles

Stiff-hairy annual from thick fibrous roots, the stem single, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes, 1.5-4 dm. tall.

Basal leaves oblanceolate, 3-toothed to twice ternately divided into linear lobes; cauline leaves alternate, tri- or bi-ternately divided into linear segments.

Flowers solitary on slender pedicels 3-5 cm. long; sepals 5, spreading, membranous, yellowish, 3.5-6 mm. long, hairy; petals 5, yellow, 5-8 mm. long, obovate; receptacle hemispheric, hairy; nectary basal on and nearly as broad as the petal, free to the base; stamens about 10; pistils 5-8 in a globose cluster.

Achenes greatly compressed, nearly circular, with many spines; stylar beak stout, straight, 3 mm. long.