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

Habitat: Waste ground and other disturbed areas at low elevations.

Flowers: March-September

Origin: Introduced from Europe

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, flies

Annual herb, the stem simple or loosely-branched, 3-8 dm. tall, strongly pubescent with spreading, stiff, pungent hairs.

Basal leaves lyrate-pinnatifid, petiolate, up to 2 dm. long, the terminal lobe ovate, with shallow, rounded lobes; cauline leaves alternate, sessile, much reduced, pinnatifid with 4-6 linear to narrowly-lanceolate lobes, the terminal lobe deltoid-lanceolate.

Inflorescence of bractless racemes, often elongate to 3.5 dm. in fruit; pedicles erect, stout, 2-3 mm. long, enlarged at the tip to the thickness of the silique; sepals 4, oblong-oblanceolate, 2 mm. long; petals 4, pale yellow, 3-4 mm. long; stamens 6; style lacking, stigma 2-lobed.

Siliques erect, tightly appressed, 8-15 mm. long, terete, linear but tapering to a beak-like tip; valves 3-nerved; seeds in 1 series.