Perennial herbaceous plant 10-30 cm tall, generally fragile and tender. Geophyte. Thin rhizome almost vertical or oblique, branched, creeping, whitish. From its nodes come the buds of numerous fleshy, but thin and straight roots. Stems few, often solitary, thin, erect, branched, leafy only at the top. Their base is wrapped in several wide membranous sheaths. They are usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely pubescent at the base. Leaves of two types: basal and lower stem on petioles 5-10 cm long, twice or thrice trifoliate with trilobate or trifoliate inverted ovate leaves, glabrous or slightly pubescent on the underside, with whitish membranous stipules 2.5-4 mm long, up to 3 mm; upper stem leaves sessile or on petioles 1-2 cm long, similar to the lower in shape, but less complex and smaller in size, with two short stipules.
