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A medium-size moth (2.9-3.2 cm wingspan) with reddish-brown forewings and bright yellow-orange hindwings. The forewings are brown with the lower two-thirds of the area between the antemedian and postmedian lines darker, almost black. Stigma is a silver dash and narrowly forked at the upper end. Hindwings are bright yellow-orange, with a black terminal band. Very similar to S. alticola, which has darker, blackish-brown forewings, a shorter stigma and a more zigzag terminal line. Other Syngrapha species with yellow hindwings (borea, orophila, microgamma) have mainly grey forewings and different stigmas. Autographa sansoni is larger and has pale yellow hindwings. There are also genitalic differences (see References). The antennae are simple and the sexes are similar. Older literature refers to ignea as S. hochenwarthi, a closely related Palearctcic species.