Globe Yellowcress

Herbs annual or short-lived perennial, (20-)30-90(-120) cm tall, densely villous or hirsute at least near base, rarely glabrous above. Stems erect, simple at base, branched above. Basal leaves rosulate, soon withered; petiole 1-4 cm; leaf blade lyrate-pinnatifid or subruncinate. Lower and middle cauline leaves sessile, lanceolate, oblanceolate, or oblong, 2.5-10(-15) × 0.3-2.5(-4) cm, hirsute, lyrate-pinnatifid and with 1-3 lateral lobes on each side of midvein, sometimes leaves not lobed, base auriculate or amplexicaul, margin irregularly dentate, incised, or serrate, apex acute; terminal lobe not distinct or well developed and to 8 × 4 cm; uppermost leaves undivided, serrate, dentate, or serrulate. Racemes ebracteate. Fruiting pedicels divaricate, (2-)4-8(-10) mm, straight or slightly recurved, slender, glabrous or hirsute. Sepals oblong, spreading, (1-)1.3-1.8(-2) × 0.5-0.9 mm. Petals yellow, obovate, 0.7-1.3(-1.5) × 0.3-0.8 mm, apex obtuse. Filaments spreading, 1.2-1.8(-2) mm; anthers oblong, 0.4-0.5 mm. Ovules 60-100 per ovary. Fruit globose or subglobose, 2-3(-3.5) × (1.5-)2-3 mm; valves 2, papery, glabrous, not veined; gynophore 0.1-0.4 mm, sometimes absent; style stout, 0.1-0.8(-1) mm. Seeds dark reddish brown, broadly ovate, 0.5-0.8 × 0.4-0.5 mm, reticulate. Fl. and fr. Apr-Nov.

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam].

River banks, moist areas, grasslands, railroad embankments; near sea level to 2500 m.

Nasturtium globosum Turczaninow ex Fischer & C. A. Meyer, Index Sem. Hort. Petrop. 1: 35. 1835; Camelina yunnanensis W. W. Smith; Cochlearia globosa (Turczaninow) Ledebour; N. cantoniense Hance.