Alpine lady's-mantle is a perennial plant with a woody rhizome growing to a height of between . The weak stems are silkily hairy and grow from a basal rosette and the leaves are palmate with about seven lanceolate leaflets with toothed tips, smooth above and densely hairy underneath. There are alternate pairs of leaves on the stems and the
inflorescence forms a dense cyme. The
flowers are lime green with four sepals, no petals, four stamens and a solitary carpel. They are
hermaphrodite and the seeds develop
apomictically without being fertilised. The flowers begin to bloom in June and fade in September and their
seeds can be collected from August to October. Because the seeds develop without cross fertilisation, any
mutations that may occur gradually cause cumulative changes to populations and there are a great many very similar species of lady's-mantle, sometimes called micro-species. Alpine lady's-mantle is easily distinguished from other lady's-mantles by the fact that its leaves have clearly separate leaflets while other species have neatly pleated leaves. ==Distribution and habitat==