A deciduous shrub 3 to 5 ft high, with erect stellately downy stems. Leaves three-lobed, sometimes obscurely five-lobed on the non-flowering shoots, from 11⁄2 to 3 in. wide, scarcely so long; usually roundish or broadly oval in general outline; variable in the amount of down on the lower surface. Flowers 1⁄3 in. wide, white, produced in corymbs 11⁄2 in. wide; calyx downy. Fruits composed of two or three pods, each one- or two-seeded. Bot. Mag., t. 7758.
Native of western N. America, reaching from Oregon and Idaho through Utah and Nevada to W. Texas. It is allied to P. monogynus, which has a more eastern distribution, differing chiefly in the more robust habit, larger leaves, and sometimes more numerous carpels. Introduced to Kew in 1897. The pods are described as indehiscent, until after falling.