Annual to perennial herbs. Leaves pinnately lobed or entire. Flowers in ebracteate racemes, which arise opposite a leaf. Petals whitish, often small or 0. Fertile stamens 2-6. Fruit a flattened 2-lobed silicula, breaking longitudinally into two 1-seeded segments.
Derivation of name: Theophrastus's name, meaning crow's foot, after the leaf shape