Brassicaceae

Ephemeral, annual, biennial or perennial, herbs, subshrubs or rarely shrubs. Leaves alternate; lamina entire to deeply dissected, sometimes on same plant; stipules absent. Inflorescence a raceme, corymb or panicle, usually without bracts. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic; sepals 4, in 2 whorls, the inner pair often cupped at the base; petals 4, usually with claw, usually spreading above the claw to form a cross (hence the earlier family name Cruciferae), sometimes absent; stamens usually 6, occasionally 2 or 4, free, erect, hypogynous, typically with outer whorl of 2 short stamens and inner whorl of 4 long stamens; nectaries associated with stamens; ovary superior, of 2 fused carpels, bilocular, false septum typically present and persistent after seed dispersal; style usually persistent in fruit, simple, stigma usually bilobed; placentation parietal. Fruit usually pedicellate, dry, usually dehiscent; cotyledons inside seed folded or flat.