Pachypteris Karelin & Kirilov, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 15: 158. 1842, not Brongnart (1828).

Herbs annual, glabrous throughout or pilose, sometimes fruit papillate. Trichomes simple, papillate. Stems erect or ascending, branched. Basal leaves petiolate, not rosulate, simple, entire. Cauline leaves sessile, auriculate, sagittate, or amplexicaul, entire. Racemes several flowered, ebracteate, elongated in fruit, grouped in panicles. Fruiting pedicels filiform, reflexed or rarely divaricate. Sepals ovate or oblong, ascending, base of lateral pair not saccate, margin not membranous. Petals yellow, slightly longer than sepals; blade obovate or oblanceolate, apex obtuse; claw absent. Stamens 6, slightly tetradynamous; filaments, not dilated at base; anthers subglobose or broadly ovate, obtuse at apex. Nectar glands confluent and subtending bases of all stamens; median glands present; lateral glands annular. Ovules 1 per ovary; placentation subapical. Fruit indehiscent, achenelike silicles, oblong, ovate, elliptic, or oblong-linear, angustiseptate, sessile, sometimes constricted above seed-bearing portion; valves papery, corky and thick winged all around, veinless, glabrous or papillate; replum rudimentary; septum absent; style absent; stigma capitate, entire. Seeds wingless, oblong, plump; seed coat smooth, not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons incumbent.

Three species: C and SW Asia; two species in China.