Plants sparsely to moderately pubescent, fruits glabrous. Stems (1.4-)2.5-7.5(-9) dm. Basal leaves shortly petiolate; blade oblanceolate to oblong, 2-7.5 cm × 5-20 mm. Cauline leaves: blade lanceolate, narrowly oblong, or linear-lanceolate, (1.5-)2.5-7(-9) cm × (2-) 3-15(-25) mm, apex acute or acuminate, surfaces sparsely pubescent, trichomes mostly forked. Fruiting pedicels straight or slightly curved upwards, (4-)6-10 (-14) mm. Flowers: sepals 1.5-1.7 × 0.5-0.7(-1) mm; petals 2-2.5 × 0.5-0.7(-1) mm; filaments 1.5-2 mm; anthers 0.2-0.4 mm. Fruits (1.7-)2-2.2 × (2-)2.2-2.5 mm; style slender, 0.5-0.9 mm. Seeds 1.2-1.4 × 1-1.1 mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering May-Sep. Fields, grassy mountain slopes, plains, roadsides, cultivated fields; 0-1000 m; introduced; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.W.T., N.S., Ont., Que., Yukon; Alaska, Conn., Ind., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., N.H., Ohio, Pa., Vt.; Europe; Asia; n Africa; introduced also in South America (Argentina), Australia.

Annual herb with a slender taproot to 0.8 m tall

Stem: slender, upright, much-branched, hairy (with branched or two-pronged hairs).

Flowers: in branched clusters (raceme). Petals four, yellow, about 1.5 mm wide, spatula-shaped, bases narrowed.

Fruit: an indehiscent pod, 2 mm long, 2.5 mm wide, nearly spherical, slightly flattened, firm, thick-walled, net-veined and pitted.

Basal leaves: stalked, roughly hairy.

Stem leaves: alternate, clasping, stalkless, 3 - 6 cm long, oblong- lance-shaped, bases lobed, tips pointed, non-toothed or nearly so, and hairy.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: May to September

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe. In the Chicago Region known only from Lake County, Indiana, where it used to be abundant along a railroad. It no longer grows at that locality.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Much-branched, to 8 dm, pubescent with branched or 2-pronged hairs; cauline lvs oblong-lanceolate, 3-6 cm, acute, entire or nearly so; fls 1.5 mm wide; mature pedicels slender, divergent, to 1 cm; frs 2 נ2.5 mm; 2n=14. Native of the Near East, found as an occasional weed here and there in our range. June, July.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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