E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Annual herb from a slender taproot; stems usually single, erect, 10-50 cm tall, branched above, short-hairy.

Leaves:
Basal leaves soon deciduous; stem leaves 3-10 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, entire to saw-toothed or pinnately cut with toothed segments, reduced upwards, entire to lobed, not clasping, lower sometimes shallowly pinnately-cut, upper unstalked.

Flowers:
Inflorescence ofnumerous, elongate racemes; flower stalks slightly ascending, 2-4 mm long, slightly flattened on lower surfaces, usually hairy on upper surfaces; petals lacking, rarely vestigial, white, to 1 mm; sepals about 1 mm long.

Fruits:
Silicles, round to short egg-shaped, 3-3.5 by 2.5-3 mm long, tips slightly winged, abruptly curved into obtuse tee at the tips, shallowly slightly notched, glabrous to short-hairy; beaks lacking.

Notes:
Four, sometimes difficult to distinguish, varieties occur in BC.

1. Silicles averaging 2.5 mm long, glabrous; flower stalks slightly flattened................. var. densiflorum

1. Silicles averaging 3 mm long, glabrous or short-hairy; flower stalks conspicuously flattened.

2. Silicles glabrous................ var. macrocarpum Mulligan2. Silicles short-hairy.

3. Silicles short-hairy on both surfaces..................... var. pubicarpum (A. Nelson) Thell.

3. Silicles short-hairy only on the margins.................... var. elongatum (Rydb.) Thell.