Annual or perennating herbs, erect, branched below; often hairy or scabrous with simple hairs. Leaves lyrate-pinnate to simple, lower shortly stalked, upper subsessile or sessile; all leaves ± dentate. Racemes corymbose above, becoming lax in fruit. Flowers often large, yellow, cream or cream-violet, pedicellate. Sepals oblong, subequal; inner pair hardly saccate at base but slightly hooded at the apex. Petals broadly obovate, shortly clawed or cuneate at the base, apex subemarginate. Stamens 6; filaments linear; anthers oblong, subacute, yellow. Lateral nectar glands often minute, depressed-prismatic; middle glands short, subglobose or stalk-like. Ovary subcylindrical, 16-many ovuled. Siliquae long, slender, oblong or linear, compressed, erect or pendulous, shortly beaked, (beak 0-1-seeded), dehiscent; valve with a distintct mid-vein; gynophore short or 0; septum hyaline, not veined; seeds usually indefinite, biseriate, small, 0.5-1 mm in diam., ovoid or ellipsoid, light brown; cotyledons conduplicate.
About 20 species, mostly in Europe and the Mediterranean region; only 2 species are found in our area.
