Annual to perennial herbs. Leaves pinnate (in ours), with basal leaves in a rosette. Inner sepals slightly saccate. Flowers white (in ours) in an ebracteate raceme. Stamens 4-6. Fruit a flattened siliqua, dehiscing
explosively, the inconspicuously veined valves coiling spirally from the base. Seeds in 1 series.
Worldwide: 200 species in temperate zones with some on tropical mountains