General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems 0.2-1.0 m tall, simple to (more commonly) loosely branched, stiff, usually strongly stiff-hairy with backward-pointing or spreading hairs.

Leaves:
Basal leaves oblanceolate, 4-25 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, pinnately-cut, terminal lobe the largest and more or less egg-shaped and shallowly round-toothed, glabrate to sparsely hairy; stem leaves usually unstalked, much reduced, generally with 4-6 linear to narrowly lanceolate lobes, terminal lobes more deltoid-lanceolate.

Flowers:
Racemes elongate in fruit, as much as 35 cm long; petals pale yellow, 3-4 mm long; sepals 1.5-2.5 mm long, oblong-oblanceolate.

Fruits:
Siliques, erect, 8-15 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, linear and awn-like, tightly appressed, beaked, sparsely hairy to glabrous; segments 3-nerved, tardily dehiscent; fruiting stalks erect, 1-3 mm long, stout, enlarged at the tips and about as thick as siliques; beaks 1-2 mm long; seeds about 1.3 mm long, plump, not gelatinous when wet.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Erysimum officinale L.
Sisymbrium officinale var. leiocarpum DC.