Jepson Herbarium
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Annual to shrub; sap pungent, watery.
Leaf: generally simple, alternate; generally both basal, cauline; stipules 0.
Inflorescence: generally raceme, generally not bracted.
Flower: bisexual, generally radial; sepals 4, generally free; petals (0)4, forming a cross, generally white or yellow to purple; stamens generally 6 (2 or 4), 4 long, 2 short (3 pairs of unequal length); ovary 1, superior, generally 2-chambered with septum connecting 2 parietal placentas; style 1, stigma entire or 2-lobed.
Fruit: capsule, generally 2-valved, "silique" (length >= 3 × width) or "silicle" (length < 3 × width), dehiscent by 2 valves or indehiscent, cylindric or flat parallel or perpendicular to septum, segmented or not.
Seed: 1–many, in 1 or 2 rows per chamber, winged or wingless; embryo strongly curved.
± 330 genera, 3780 species: worldwide, especially temperate. [Al-Shehbaz et al. 2006 Plant Syst Evol 259:89–120] Highest diversity in Medit area, mtns of sw Asia, adjacent c Asia, w North America; some Brassica species are oil or vegetable crops; Arabidopsis thaliana used in experimental molecular biology; many species are ornamentals, weeds. Aurinia saxatilis (L.) Desvaux in cultivation only. Aubrieta occasional waif in c NCoR, Carrichtera annua (L.) DC. in SCo, Iberis sempervirens L., Iberis umbellata L. in PR, Teesdalia coronopifolia (Bergeret) Thell., Teesdalia nudicaulis (L.) W.T. Aiton in s NCoRO, CCo. Cardaria, Coronopus moved to Lepidium; Caulostramina to Hesperidanthus; Guillenia to Caulanthus; Heterodraba to Athysanus; CA taxa of Lesquerella to Physaria; Malcolmia africana to Strigosella. —Scientific Editors: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Key to Brassicaceae

Annual, biennial ( perennial herb); hairs minute, many-branched, tree-like, occasionally mixed with fewer simple hairs, club-shaped glandular papillae occasionally present.
Stem: generally branched distally.
Leaf: petioled, finely 1–3-pinnately lobed or divided, basal generally early- deciduous; cauline similar to basal, less divided distally on stem, base not lobed.
Inflorescence: elongating.
Flower: sepals erect to spreading, base not sac-like; petals obovate, yellow [± white].
Fruit: silique or silicle, dehiscent, linear, oblong, club-shaped, ellipsoid, or obovoid, not flattened, unsegmented; stigma entire.
Seed: 5–100, in 1 or 2 rows, ellipsoid to oblong, plump; wing 0.
45–47 species: Eurasia, especially North America and South America, Canary Islands. (F. Descourain, French botanist, 1658–1740) May be TOXIC to livestock. [Detling 1939 Amer Midl Naturalist 22:481–520] Taxonomically difficult, most characters highly variable.
Unabridged note: A taxonomically difficult genus due to extensive variation and continuity in most characters. The extensive interspecific hybridization, polyploidy, fertility among species, weedy tendencies of hybrids and parents, and lack of reliable morphological characters make it difficult to delimit taxa. Numerous infraspecific taxa have been recognized, but without extensive cytological, molecular, and experimental studies, recognition of narrowly defined taxa is neither practical nor useful.

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Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].

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Bioregions in which taxon occurs	Red area (if present) is the part of the bioregion lying between the upper and lower elevation limits of the taxon; markers link to CCH specimen records. If the markers are obscured, reload the page [or change window size and reload]. Yellow markers indicate records that may have georeferencing or identification issues.
Chart based on elevation range in Manual and elevations and coordinates of CCH records. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. Note: About half of the CCH records include both elevation and coordinates.	Map made in collaboration with Scott Loarie. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. View all CCH records