Distribution: Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Shrub-steppe, grasslands, and waste ground, especially following rangeland fires.

Flowers: May-September

Origin: Introduced from Eurasia

Growth Duration: Annual, Biennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, flies, butterflies

Annual herb, the erect, freely-branching stems 3-15 dm. tall, glabrous above and with a few stiff hairs below.

Leaves alternate, broadly lanceolate or oblong to oblanceolate, up to 1.5 dm. long, petiolate, the lower ones pinnatifid, the segments often pointing backward, becoming pinnatifid with linear segments above.

Inflorescence of bractless racemes; pedicles stout, spreading, 4-10 mm. long; sepals 4, somewhat spreading, 4 mm. long; petals 4, pale yellowish, clawed, 6-8 mm. long; stamens 6; style lacking, stigma 2-lobed.

Siliques linear, terete, 5-10 cm. long, slightly broader than the pedicles, spreading and rigid; valves with a prominent mid-nerve and 2 evident lateral nerves; seeds in 1 series.