Annuals or, rarely, biennials; eglandular. Trichomes absent [simple]. Cauline leaves sessile [petiolate]; blade base auriculate, sagittate, or amplexicaul, margins dentate or subentire. Racemes ebracteate [bracteate], elongated in fruit. Flowers actinomorphic; sepals ascending or spreading, lateral pair seldom saccate basally; petals white [pink, purple, or yellowish], claw often present, seldom distinct; filaments unappendaged, not winged; pollen 3-colpate. Fruits silicles [siliques], indehiscent, unsegmented, terete or slightly latiseptate, (woody); ovules 1[-3] per ovary; style obsolete (relatively short or beaklike); stigma entire. Seeds aseriate; cotyledons [incumbent] subconduplicate.

Genera 3, species 9 (1 in the flora): introduced; Europe, e, c, sw Asia, n Africa.

Lower Taxon

• Calepina Adanson