Drummond's anemone is a small forb in the Ranunculaceae family of rocky slopes and dry tundra with large white flowers with a bluish blush. It grows in tufts, 10-20 cm tall from a thick branching taproot. The leaves and peduncle are silky-haired when young, maturing to be hairless. All leaves are 3-4 times palmately cleft, and the leaflets further lobed into linear segments. Basal leaves are long-petioled, while stem leaves are sessile and opposite. The bracts below the flower (looking like the stem leaves) are 2-ternate, as opposed to A. multifida, which are 1-ternate. The stem has one flower, long-peduncled, 2-3 cm across. The petal-like 6-9 tepals are ovate, 8-20 mm long, appressed-hairy on the outer surface, white or blue-tinged, forming a cup. Flowers have 80-100 yellow stamens surrounding the pistils. The fruiting head is distinctively cone-shaped, made up of many achenes. The unhooked styles persist on the fruits, and covered in long hairs, allowing them to be wind-dispersed. This species can be difficult to distinguish from other members of the genus Anemone, but it is one of only two species with hairy achenes with an unhooked style. Anemone multifida has similar fruits, but the leaf segments are more linear and plants are typically 20-40 cm tall, and rarer, generally occurring at lower elevations in Denali.

Anemone drummondii is perennial, flowering soon after snowmelt.

Anemone drummondii is monoecious, with bisexual flowers. Though A. drummondii's pollination has not been studied, other species of the genus with similar flowers are bee-pollinated. The styles persist on the fruits, unhooked, and covered in long hairs, allowing them to be wind-dispersed.

Dry sites.