Stems erect, spineless, 1–2 m. Twigs glabrous to puberulent; the bark brown, becoming gray. Leaf blades 1–6 cm wide, cuneate at the base, 3(5)-lobed, the lobes entire to shallowly lobed, mostly glabrous. Inflorescence 3–8-flowered, ascending to drooping, as long or longer than the leaves. Flowers tubular, 6–8 mm long, yellow; calyx lobes 2–4 mm long, oblong; petals yellow; stamens equaling the petals; styles glabrous, united to the tip. Berry glabrous, 4–8 mm long, black, palatable (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus vagans,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus centralis,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus huntii,
Bombus melanopygus,
Bombus mixtus,
Bombus nevadensis,
Bombus terricola,
Bombus sitkensis,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus pensylvanicus,
Bombus bimaculatus,
Bombus impatiens,
Bombus insularis, and
Bombus flavidus (Plath 1934, Thorp et al. 1983, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Koch et al. 2012, Williams et al. 2014).