dwarf, hispid or glabrescent; stems decumbent, sub-simple; leaves on short petioles, polymorphous (ovate, or tricuspidate, or 3-lobed, or tripartite) sharply and coarsely serrate, rigid, nearly glabrous, with prominent nerves and veins, coarsely reticulate; stipules setaceo-subulate, spreading; peduncles axillary, longer than the leaves, jointed below the flower; involucre of about 10 subulate leaflets, half as long as the acuminate, stellato-pubescent calyx-lobes; capsules glabrous, seeds woolly. Root thick and woody, throwing up several stems 6–12 inches long or more; the larger specimens branching. Leaves 1–1 1/2 inch long, extremely variable in shape and cutting, but always thick and rigid and sharply toothed; rarely stellato-pubescent, mostly sub-glabrous. The flowers are rather large, crimson or deep rosy-purple, rarely varying to orange or yellow, and appear throughout the summer.