Annuals or perennials [biennials, subshrubs]; eglandular. Trichomes simple or absent, [rarely branched]. Cauline leaves petiolate or sessile; blade base not auriculate [auriculate], margins usually pinnately lobed or dentate, sometimes entire. Inflorescences (usually racemose, sometimes fasciculate, or flowers solitary in Sisymbrium polyceratium), usually ebracteate (bracteate in S. polyceratium), often elongated in fruit. Flowers actinomorphic; sepals erect to spreading, lateral pair seldom saccate basally; petals yellow [pink, white], claw present, often distinct; filaments unappendaged, not winged; pollen 3-colpate. Fruits siliques, dehiscent, unsegmented, usually terete [slightly latiseptate]; ovules 6–120(–140)[–160] per ovary; style usually distinct, rarely obsolete; stigma 2-lobed. Seeds uniseriate; cotyledons incumbent.