Herbs annual, (20-)25-60(-75) cm tall, often hispid. Roots not fleshy. Stems erect or prostrate, usually retrorsely hispid. Basal leaves with petioles 1-6 cm; leaf blade oblong, obovate, or oblanceolate in outline, 3-15(-22) × 1-5 cm, lyrate or pinnatifid, sometimes undivided, margin dentate, apex obtuse or acute; lateral lobes 1-4 on each side of midvein, oblong or ovate, to 4 × 2 cm, smaller than terminal lobe. Uppermost cauline leaves subsessile, often undivided, dentate. Fruiting pedicels divaricate or ascending, straight, 0.7-2.5 cm. Sepals narrowly oblong, 7-11 × 1-2 mm, sparsely pubescent. Petals yellow or creamy white, with dark brown or purple veins, broadly obovate, 1.5-2.5 cm × 4-7 mm, apex obtuse or emarginate; claw to 1.5 cm. Filaments slender, 7-12 mm; anthers 2-2.5 mm, sagittate at base. Fruit cylindric or narrowly lanceolate; valvular segment seedless, 1-1.5 mm; seed-bearing distal segment (1.5-)2-11(-14) cm × (2.5-)3-8(-11) mm, woody or corky, rounded at base, conical at apex, strongly constricted between seeds, strongly ribbed; style 1-5 cm; stigma entire. Seeds oblong or ovoid, 2.5-3.5 × 1.8-2.5 mm. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 18.

Roadsides, fields, waste areas. Qinghai, Sichuan, Taiwan [native to SW Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean region; naturalized elsewhere].