Caltha appendiculata is a low (2½-7 cm high) dioecious, perennial herb, often growing in dense clusters over considerable areas, with thick rhizomes. The strong stems are sparingly branched, somewhat elongated, and covered by the remains of old sheaths. Its thick and fleshy leaves consist of a short leafstalk and a blade of between six and ten mm long, which is ovate, elliptical or oblong in outline, has an entire margin or is split into three lobes, and usually is retuse at the tip. Near the midrib on the upward leaf face are two or three narrow leaflike outgrowths. This makes the leafblade in its entirety reminiscent of an opened book. These appendages are in fact homologous with the ears at the base of the leafblade of Northern Hemisphere Caltha species.The faintly sweet scented actinom