Annuals, biennials, or perennials; eglandular. Trichomes absent. Cauline leaves petiolate or sessile; blade base auriculate or not, margins usually entire or dentate. Racemes ebracteate, elongated [not elongated] in fruit. Flowers actinomorphic; sepals ascending to spreading, lateral pair not saccate basally; petals white, claw present, indistinct; filaments unappendaged, not winged; pollen 3-colpate. Fruits silicles, dehiscent, unsegmented, subterete or angustiseptate; ovules [4-]8-14[-numerous] per ovary; style distinct; stigma entire. Seeds biseriate; cotyledons usually accumbent, rarely incumbent.

Genus 1, species 21 (3 in the flora): North America, Europe, Asia, nw Africa.

Lower Taxon

• Cochlearia Linnaeus