CARRICHTERA de Candolle, Mem. Mus. Nat. Hist. Paris 7: 244. 1821, nom. cons.
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz
Tribe: Brassiceae de Candolle, Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. 7(1): 242. 1821.
Name derivation: for Bartholomaeus Carricter (fl. 1575), physician to the German Emperor Maxmillan II.
Type species: Carrichtera annua (Linnaeus) de Candolle (based on Vella annua Linnaeus)
Herbs, annual. Trichomes simple, often retrose. Multicellular glands absent. Stems erect or rarely decumbent, branched at base and above, rarely simple. Basal leaves petiolate, not rosulate, simple, 1- or 2-pinnatisect; cauline leaves petiolate, 1- or 2-pinnatisect. Racemes many flowered, ebracteate, lax, elongated considerably in fruit; rachis straight; fruiting pedicels strongly recurved, often second, persistent. Sepals narrowly oblong, free, erect, caducous, hirsute, equal, base of lateral pair slightly saccate. Petals cream or pale yellow with dark purple or brown veins, erect at base with flaring blade, longer than sepals; blade spatulate to obovate, obtuse at apex; claw strongly differentiated from blade, slightly longer than sepals, glabrous, unappendaged, entire. Stamens 6, slightly exserted, erect, tetradynamous; filaments wingless, unappendaged, glabrous, free; anthers ovate to oblong, apiculate. Nectar glands distinct, lateral globose to semi-annular, intrastaminal, median nectaries present. Ovules 4–6 per ovary; placentation parietal. Fruits dehiscent silicles, ovoid to ellipsoid, terete, sessile, segmented; valvular segement 4–6-seeded; valves leathery, setose or hirsute along prominent midvein and distinct marginal veins, not torulose, wingless, unappendaged; terminal segment indehiscent, seedless, glabrous, flattened, cochleariform to short lingulate; gynophore absent; replum rounded, visible; septum complete, membranous, veinless; style obscure; stigma 2-lobed, not decurrent, unappendaged. Seeds biseriate, wingless, subglobose, plump; seed coat smooth, mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons conduplicate. x = 8.
Monospecific.