Stems: from a large fusiform rootstock. Leaves: pinnately decompound. Flowers: in large umbels. Fruit: oblong-elliptical, carpel with dorsal and intermediate ribs.

The stems of this handsome Angelica grow from one to three feet high and are very leafy at the base. The segments of the ternate and pinnate leaves are finely cut, and the small brownish-purple flowers grow in round umbels three to four inches in diameter, usually without an involucre. The lateral wings of the fruit are broad, very thick and corky, and the seeds are flat, the seed-face being concave. The oil-tubes are obsolete.