callianthemum pimpinelloides (D. Don ex Royle) Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 1: 26. 1855. Ranuunculus pimpinelloides D. Don ex Royle, Illus. Bot. Himal. 53. 1834. Callianthemum cachmerianum Cambess. in Jacquem., Voy. Bot. 4: 5, t. 3. 1844; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 14. 1872.

Herbs, perennial, small, densely caespitose, glabrous, 10 - 15 an high; roots fibrous. Leaves erect, 6 - 12 cm long at flowering time, later up to 25 cm long, pinnately or bipinnately lobed or cut; lobes 5 - 7, broadly ovate, 0.5 - 3 x 0.5 - 2 cm, spreading, deeply and subacutely toothed or lobed or lower pair pinnately divided, glabrous; petioles 6 - 10 cm long. Scapes leafy in the middle, 3 - 7 cm long. Flower solitary, 2 - 3 cm across, white or pale red. Sepals 5, elliptic, obtuse, 4 - 6 x 2 - 3 mm, reddish. Petals 5 - 12, almost twice as long as the sepals, obovate to spathulate, 7 - 15 x 2 - 5 mm, white, tinged purple outside with a nectariferous pit inside at the base. Stamens greenish. Carpels glabrous. Achenes in heads, ovoid, subglobose, tipped by a short beak, ca 3.5 x 2 mm, glabrous.

Fl. & Fr. April- July.

Distrib. India: Alpine cliff edges, meadows, damp turf and sandy ground, 2700 - 4000 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim.

Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China (Tibet and Yunnan).