The morphological characteristics of Coptis: rhizome, yellow, often branched, densely covered with numerous fibrous roots. Leaves with long petioles; leaf blades slightly leathery, ovate-triangular, up to 10cm wide, triternate, central lobe ovate-rhomboid, 3-8cm long, 2-4cm wide, apex acute, with a slender stalk measuring 0.8-1.8cm long, 3 or 5 pairs of pinnately deeply divided, with the deepest divisions on the lower side, deep lobes spaced 2-6mm apart, margin with sharp serrations with fine spines, lateral lobes with 1.5-5mm long stalks, oblique-ovate, shorter than central lobe, unequally deeply divided, veins raised on both surfaces, covered with short soft hairs along the veins on the upper surface, otherwise glabrous; leaf stalks 5-12cm long, glabrous.
