Arabis cadmea Boissier; A. recta Villars; A. sinaica Boissier; A. sogdiana Komarov; Sisymbrium sewerzowii Regel.

Herbs annual, (3-)10-40(-55) cm tall, densely pilose with stalked, forked or 3(or 4)-rayed stellate trichomes, these rarely mixed with fewer simple ones basally. Stems erect, simple at base, sometimes branched above middle. Basal leaves not rosulate; petiole 2-10 mm; leaf blade spatulate, obovate, or oblong-ovate, (0.5-)1-2.5(-3) cm × 3-15 mm, base cuneate, margin dentate or sublyrate, sometimes subentire, apex obtuse or acute. Middle cauline leaves sessile, subappressed to stems, ovate, oblong, or elliptic, (0.5-)1-2(-2.5) cm × 2-10 mm, base auriculate or amplexicaul, margin entire or denticulate. Racemes ebracteate; rachis flexuous in fruit. Fruiting pedicels 1-3(-5) mm, stout, as thick as or about half as thick as fruit, ascending, pubescent or glabrous. Sepals oblong, 1-2 × 0.4-0.5 mm, not saccate. Petals white, narrowly oblanceolate, 2-4 × 0.4-0.7(-1) mm, apex obtuse. Filaments 2-3 mm; anthers ovate, 0.2-0.3 mm. Ovules 16-50 per ovary. Fruit ascending, (1-)2-5 cm × 0.6-1(-1.2) mm, straight or slightly curved, slightly to strongly flattened; valves with distinct midvein, glabrous or puberulent with branched and simple trichomes; torulose or smooth; style 0.1-0.4 mm. Seeds brown, oblong, 0.7-1 × 0.4-0.6 mm, uniseriate, wingless. Fl. and fr. Mar-Jun. 2n = 16.

Arabis auriculata has been reduced to the synonymy of A. nova Villars in some floras of countries W of China. However, the latter is a European species with much longer and more slender pedicels.

Dry mountain slopes, forests, limestone conglomerate; 500-1800 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbek-istan; N Africa, SW Asia, E Europe].