Usually glabrous herbs, green or slightly glaucous. Stems erect, up to 100 cm. Leaves ± triangular in outline, the two lateral divisions almost as large as the middle division. Ultimate segments very variable. Inflorescence a dense to lax panicle. Stigma not fimbriate. Achenes fusiform, ribbed, not compressed. A complex species which has been divided into many subordinate taxa. Three taxa, which are often difficult to distinguish, are recognisable in Turkey. The following account is only provisional, and further work on the complex is  necessary.

1. Largest ultimate leaf segments less than 9 mm; plants usually erect and strict var. microphyllum

1. Largest ultimate leaf segments more than 9 mm; plant usually not strict

   2. Inflorescence lax, its lowest branches arising at about the middle of the stem var. majus

   2. Inflorescence compact, its lowest branches arising in the upper part of the stem var. minus