Annual or perennial herbs, mostly branched from below, glabrous or hairy with simple rarely glandular hairs. Leaves simple, entire or dentate to pinnatifid. Racemes corymbose, often showy. Flowers white, rose or lilac, often with unequal petals, pedicelled. Sepals suberect, not saccate. Petals usually unequal, outer two usually larger than the inner. Stamens 6; filaments simple. Lateral nectar glands usually in pairs, ± triangular, small; middle absent. Ovary ovate, bilocular, 2-ovulate; style about as long as the ovary. Siliculae ± ovate, bilocular, laterally compressed, dehiscent, rounded below, deeply emarginate (winged) above, 2-seeded;septum narrow, membranous; seed ovate, often margined(slightly winged) ; radicle accumbent.

About 30 species, chiefly European; known from 1 cultivated species only in our area.

Lower Taxon

• Iberis amara Linn.