Annual or biennial, 30-60 (-80) cm tall, branched mostly from the base, glabrous or sometimes sparsely hairy below with simple and branched hairs. Basal leaves oblong-lanceolate, 15-50 mm long, 5-10 (-15) mm broad, cuneate below, sessile, entire or irregularly toothed; upper leaves lanceolate or linear, sessile, sagittate-amplexicaul, entire or toothed. Racemes 30-70-flowered, up to 30 cm long in fruit. Flowers c. 3.5 mm across, yellow; pedicels 10-20 (-25) mm long in fruit, rigid, ascending. Sepals c. 2.5 mm long. Petals c. 5 mm long. Siliculae obovoid, 7-9 mm long, 4-5 mm broad, apex rounded; valves convex, glabrous, with a distinct mid-rib; style 1.5-2 mm long with capitate stigma; seeds 9-10 in each locule, c. 1.5 mm long, ovoid, brown.

Fl. Per.: March-May.

Type: Described from Europe.

Distribution: Probably native of Europe, C. & S.W. Asia; widespread as weed of cultivated fields.

A very variable species, often split into a number of infra specific taxa. Edible oil is extracted from its seeds.