Herbs annual. Trichomes absent or eglandular, simple. Stems erect, branched. Basal leaves petiolate, rosulate or not, entire, dentate, or lyrately pinnatifid. Cauline leaves sessile, auriculate or amplexicaul at base, rarely not auriculate, entire, repand, or dentate. Racemes ebracteate, elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels filiform, recurved or reflexed, articulate at base or both ends. Sepals ovate or oblong, suberect, base of lateral pair not saccate or subsaccate. Petals white, pink, or purplish, longer than sepals; blade spatulate, apex obtuse; claw subequaling sepals. Stamens 6, slightly tetradynamous; median filament pairs flattened at base, lateral pair filiform; anthers ovate, obtuse at apex. Nectar glands 4, minute; median glands free or confluent with laterals; lateral glands semiannular, intrastaminal. Ovules 1-3 per ovary, subapical. Fruit indehiscent nutletlike silicle, often breaking into 1-seeded units, oblong, ovoid, or ellipsoid, 1-loculed or transversely 2- or 3-loculed, terete or 4-angled, sessile, woody, often prominently veined, glabrous or papillate, smooth or torulose, sometimes verrucose-reticulate; replum rounded; septum absent; style absent, obsolete, or distinct, thickened and subconical; stigma capitate, entire. Seeds uniseriate, wingless, oblong, plump; seed coat smooth, not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons incumbent.

Six species: C and SW Asia, E Europe; three species in China.