Meadow alumroot is an attractive perennial with erect stems arising from 40-100 cm in height from a mass of basal leaves atop a branched crown with short thick rootstocks. The stems are covered with numerous stiff, brownish hairs, spreading to pointing down, the hairs 2-5 mm long. The upper stems and inflorescence become glandular hairy, with whitish hairs above. The stems are leafless, or with 1-2 small bracts below the inflorescence. The leaves are orbicular or kidney-shaped with heart-shaped bases, with 5-9 shallow lobes on the leaf margins. The leaf blades average 4-8 cm wide, and are somewhat shorter in length.
The inflorescence is a panicle which is both dense and compact and may be up to 15 cm long. The greenish to cream colored calyx is 7-9 mm long in flower and narrowly bell-shaped. The calyx lobes are unequal, oblong, blunt to rounded. The petals may be present, or absent, and when present, are usually less than 50% of the length of the sepals. The stamens are shorter than the calyx and the ovary is 4/5 inferior during flowering.
Meadow alumroot may be found in moist meadows, ditches, moist forested slopes, and wet gravelly areas.
Meadow alumroot may be found west of the Cascade summit from the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia south to Douglas County, OR, and up the Columbia River Gorge. It is then found south along the eastern base of the Cascade Mts to Klamath County, OR.
Within the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found between the elevations of 400'-2000' on the Major Creek Plateau between the White Salmon River and Klickitat River.
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