Cheiranthus aurantiacus Bunge, Enum. Pl. China Bor. 5. 1833; Erysimum amurense subsp. bungei Kitagawa; E. amurense var. bungei (Kitagawa) Kitagawa; E. aurantiacum (Bunge) Maximowicz (1889), not Leybold (1855); E. bungei (Kitagawa) Kitagawa.

Herbs perennial, (12-)25-90(-100) cm tall. Trichomes malpighiaceous throughout, mixed mainly on leaves with much fewer 3-fid ones. Stems erect, simple or branched basally, slightly ribbed. Basal and lowermost cauline leaves with petioles (0.5-)1-3 cm; leaf blade narrowly linear to linear-lanceolate, (2.5-)4-12(-15) cm × (2-)4-15(-17) mm, canescent or green, base attenuate, margin entire or obscurely denticulate, apex acuminate or acute. Upper cauline leaves sessile or subsessile. Racemes corymbose, densely flowered, ebracteate or lowermost few flowers bracteate, elongated considerably in fruit. Fruiting pedicels divaricate, (4-)5-9(-10) mm, slender, narrower than fruit, straight. Sepals oblong-linear, (6-)7-10(-11) × 2-3 mm, lateral pair strongly saccate. Petals orange-yellow, broadly obovate or spatulate, (1.2-)1.5-2 cm × (3-)4.5-7(-8) mm, apex rounded; claw distinct, subequaling sepals. Filaments yellow, (6.5-)8-11 mm; anthers linear, 3-4 mm. Ovules (24-)30-60 per ovary. Fruit linear, subterete or flattened, (1.1-)2.5-5(-8) cm × 1.2-2 mm, slightly torulose, erect to ascending, straight or curved; valves obscurely veined, outside with malpighiaceous trichomes, inside glabrous; style slender, (1.5-)2-4 mm, cylindric, much narrower than fruit; stigma capitate, prominently 2-lobed. Seeds oblong, (1.5-)2-3 × 0.8-1.3 mm. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jun-Oct.

The records in FRPS and Fl. Sichuan. (14: 146. 1999) of Erysimum amurense (as E. bungei) from Sichuan are based on misidentified plants of E. benthamii.

Plains, valleys, dry sandy or stony slopes, roadsides, thickets, disturbed secondary forests, gravelly ledges, hillsides, dry river banks; 100-2800 m. Hebei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shanxi [Korea, Russia].