Annual herbs, erect or suberect, simple or sparingly branched from below, glabrous or hairy with simple and branched hairs. Basal leaves often rosulate, pinnate to entire, stalked; upper leaves sessile, sinuate-dentate to entire, ± auricled, amplexicaul. Racemes corymbose, lax and elongated in fruit, ebracteate. Flowers small, usually white, pedicel filiform, ascending in fruit. Sepals suberect, oblong, not saccate at base. Petals short, white or pinkish, spathulate, apex rounded. Stamens 6, filaments linear, anthers ovate. Lateral nectar glands in pairs, usually with a short external process. Ovary oblong, elliptic, 12-24-ovuled, bilocular; stigma subsessile. Siliculae obtriangular or obcordate-triangular, compressed, bilocular, dehiscent, not winged, glabrous; valves broadest near the apex, reticulately veined; septum narrowly elliptic, membranous, not veined; seeds 6-12 in each locule, small, ellipsoid, brown; radicle incumbent.
About 5 species, chiefly in the Mediterranean region, Europe and W. Asia; only 1, which is a cosmopolitan species, occurs in our area.
