Distribution
United States of America

Shrubs, sometimes herblike, to 2 dm, armed. Stems ˂biennial, creeping, tip-rooting, flowering branches often erect, glabrous or sparsely hairy, sparsely to densely short- to long-stipitate-glandular, rarely eglandular, not pruinose; prickles sparse to dense, erect to retrorse, weak, slender, 1-3(-5) mm, narrow-based; bristles sparse to dense, erect or retrorse, narrow, flexible and weak, not gland-tipped. Leaves persistent, ternate or, rarely, palmately compound, lustrous; stipules linear to narrowly lanceolate, (2-)5-15(-20) mm; leaflets 3(-5), terminal obovate to suborbiculate, 1.7-6.5 × 1-5.2 cm, base cuneate to rounded, unlobed, margins moderately to coarsely doubly serrate, apex acute to rounded, abaxial surfaces with bristles on midvein or unarmed, glabrous or sparsely hairy, sparsely to densely short-stipitate-glandular along largest veins. Inflorescences terminal on short shoots, usually appearing axillary, 1-7(-10)-flowered, racemiform. Pedicels unarmed or bristles moderate to sometimes dense, erect to retrorse, moderately to densely hairy, sparsely to densely short- to long-stipitate-glandular. Flowers bisexual; petals white, obovate to oblanceolate, 6-10 mm; filaments filiform; ovaries glabrous. Fruits black, globose to cylindric, to 1 cm; drupelets (5-)10-15(-20), strongly coherent, separating with torus attached. 2n = 14, 21, 28, 35, 56.
Flowering May-Jul(-Aug). Moist to wet woodlands, meadows, openings, bogs, fens, disturbed areas, wet to dry soil; 0-1500 m.