Stems lax, 50–150 cm, densely to sparsely covered with fine, straight prickles; those at nodes similar. Leaves with 5 to 7, narrowly elliptic leaflets, pubescent on veins beneath,1.5–5 cm long; the rachis glabrate to glandular-pubescent; Flowers mostly solitary; hypanthium glabrous, 3–6 mm long; sepals 15–20 mm long, spreading, dilated at the tip, puberulent, sometimes stipitate-glandular, persistent in fruit; petals 15–30 mm long. Hip globose to pyriform, 1–2 cm long, reddish-purple (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Montana plants are subspecies
sayi (Schwein.) W.H. Lewis.
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus centralis,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus huntii,
Bombus mixtus,
Bombus rufocinctus,
Bombus ternarius,
Bombus terricola,
Bombus sitkensis,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus bimaculatus,
Bombus griseocollis, and
Bombus impatiens (Plath 1934, Thorp et al. 1983, Mayer et al. 2000, Wilson et al. 2010, Colla et al. 2011, Koch et al. 2012, Williams et al. 2014).