Annuals or biennials; (glaucous); usually glabrous, (sometimes pedicels pubescent). Stems often branched distally, (2.3–)4.5–12 dm. Basal leaves not rosulate; long-petiolate; blade oblanceolate to spatulate, 5–25 cm, margins lyrately lobed to irregularly dentate. Cauline leaves: blade oblong to ovate, 3–15 cm × 15–80 mm (smaller distally as bracts), base auriculate to amplexicaul, margins entire or shallowly dentate. Racemes bracteate throughout, (proximalmost bracts leaflike, distalmost much reduced). Fruiting pedicels divaricate-ascending, 7–19 mm, (glabrous or puberulent). Flowers: calyx campanulate; sepals (ascending to suberect), 8–12 mm, (not saccate basally), not keeled, (inner pair apiculate); petals purplish, 14–19 mm, blade 7–12 × 5–7 mm, margins not crisped, claw 6–8 mm, (slender), much narrower than blade; stamens tetradynamous; filaments: median pairs (distinct), 6–8 mm, lateral pair 4–6 mm; anthers (all) fertile, 4–6 mm; gynophore 1–2 mm. Fruits divaricate ascending, smooth, straight, flattened, 8–14.5 cm × 2.5–4 mm; valves each with prominent midvein; replum straight; ovules 48–80 per ovary; style 1–3.5 mm; stigma 2-lobed. Seeds oblong, 3–4 × 2–3 mm; wing 0.5–0.7 mm wide at apex, continuous.
