Stems: scape erect, hirsute. Leaves: all basal, pinnately lobed or cleft, the lobes linear, acute. Flowers: solitary. Fruit: capsule obovoid, densely beset with erect bristly hairs.

This is quite an alpine-arctic plant and grows only on the high summits. It has a flower varying in colour from yellow to reddish-orange, which grows on the top of a slender, very erect stalk, and is formed like a common Poppy, but has only four petals. All the leaves grow at the base of the plant and are long-shaped and lobed.