[2] It grows in many types of habitat, including deserts, sagebrush, foothill woodlands, sandy flats, chaparral, and scrubby canyons.

It is an annual herb producing a slender, erect, multibranched stem up to half a meter tall.

The top of the stem is occupied by a long inflorescence which is an open raceme of many flowers.

More mature flowers stud the stem at intervals below, each on a short pedicel.

The fruit is a long, dangling silique up to 7 centimeters in length containing flat, winged seeds.