Annual or biennial, 30-120 cm tall, simple, erect, glabrous, ± glaucous, sometimes turning violaceous in appearance. Rosette leaves 5-15 cm long, 1.5-3.5 cm broad, entire or toothed, stalked to subsessile, ± hairy with branched hairs rarely glabrous; cauline leaves 2-8 cm long, 0.5-3 cm broad, oblong ovate, sagittate-amplexicaul, entire, acute, subapressed, glaucous, glabrous, rarely margin sparsely hairy. Racemes many flowered, up to 30 cm long in fruit. Flowers c. 5 mm across, pale yellow, turning whitish when dried; pedicels up to 10 mm long in fruit, erect, subappressed. Sepals 2-4 mm long. Petals 4-6 mm long, 1.5 mm broad. Stamens 3 :4 mm long. Siliquae linear somewhat terete or sub-quadrangular, 30-90 mm long, c. 1.5 mm broad, erect, straight, glabrous, often subappressed; valves with a conspicuous mid-rib; seeds many, ± biseriate, c. 0.7 mm long, ovate-orbicular; septum with deep depressions.

Fl. Per.: May-August.

Type: Described from Europe, Herb. Linn. no. 843/1 (LINN).

Distribution: Europe and Temperate Asia, introduced elsewhere.