Annuals, biennials, perennials, or subshrubs; eglandular. Trichomes usually short-stalked, subsessile, or sessile, sometimes long-stalked, stellate, scalelike, subdendritic, or forked, sometimes mixed with simple ones. Cauline leaves petiolate, sessile, or subsessile; blade base usually not auriculate (except Paysonia), margins entire, dentate, or sinuate. Racemes ebracteate, often elongated in fruit. Flowers actinomorphic; sepals erect, spreading, ascending, or reflexed, lateral pair seldom saccate basally; petals white, yellow, lavender, purple, violet, orange, or brown [pink], claw present, often distinct; filaments unappendaged, not winged; pollen (3 or) 4–11-colpate. Fruits silicles or siliques, dehiscent, unsegmented, terete, latiseptate, or angustiseptate; ovules 2–100 per ovary; style usually distinct; stigma entire or strongly 2-lobed. Seeds biseriate, uniseriate, or aseriate; cotyledons accumbent or incumbent.

Distribution

North America, Mexico, South America, Asia (ne Russia).

Discussion

Genera 7, species ca. 130 (7 genera, 105 species in the flora).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Dimorphocarpa, Dithyrea, Lyrocarpa, Nerisyrenia, Paysonia, Physaria, Synthlipsis