Annuals; not scapose; (glaucous), glabrous. Stems erect, branched distally. Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate or sessile; basal (soon withered), not rosulate, petiolate, blade margins pinnatifid, runcinate, sinuate, or dentate; cauline blade (base auriculate, sagittate, or amplexicaul), margins entire or denticulate. Racemes (corymbose, several-flowered), considerably elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels appressed to rachis, stout. Flowers: sepals oblong to ovate, lateral pair subsaccate basally; petals oblong to oblanceolate, (slightly longer than sepals), claw undifferentiated from blade, (apex obtuse); stamens tetradynamous; filaments not dilated basally; anthers oblong, (apex obtuse); nectar glands (4) lateral, and (2) median (sometimes obscurely confluent with lateral). Fruits silicles, sessile, obpyriform to clavate-obcordiform, (woody, broadest distal to middle), slightly angustiseptate; (seed-bearing locule basal, 1 (or 2)-seeded, distal 2 locules seedless); replum rounded; ovules 2 per ovary; style distinct, (flattened, triangular); stigma capitate. Seeds plump, not winged, oblong to ovoid; seed coat not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons incumbent. x = 7.

Distribution

s Europe, sw Asia, introduced also in Africa, Australia.

Discussion

Species 1.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Myagrum perfoliatum