Matthiola R.Br.
Annual or perennial taprooted herbs, often woody below. Hairs dense, branched. Stems decumbent to erect, leafy above. Lvs entire to sinuate to pinnatifid, usually narrow. Racemes ebracteate. Sepals erect, the inner usually saccate. Petals purple, pink or white. Stamens 6; filaments of inner stamens branched. Lateral nectaries 4, paired at bases of lateral stamens; median nectaries 0. Stigma sessile, of 2 erect lobes with dorsal swellings or horn-like processes. Silique linear, cylindric or flattened, dehiscent; valves conspicuously 1-veined; beak 0. Seeds circular, compressed, winged or not, in 1 row per locule.
Key
Annual; stems slender, decumbent; fls opening by night or on dull days; silique 1-2 mm wide, terete
55 spp., Atlantic Is, W. Europe, Mediterranean to C. Asia, southern Africa. Naturalised spp. 2.
