A low plant with a solitary or several rosettes. Leaves linear to lanceolate, often pinnately lobed, toothed, hairless or finely hairy. Flowers yellowish brown 3mm in long spikes on unridged stalks, longer than the leaves. Anthers pale yellow occasionally pinkish.

Originally mainly coastal it seems to be spreading inland alongside main roads where it tolerates the winter salting.

May to July.

Usually biennial or perennial but sometimes annual.

Common as a coastal plant throughout Britain but now increasingly found inland.

Previously scarce but now local and increasing in Leicestershire and Rutland, mainly alongside main roads where it is tolerant of winter salting. In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 4 of the 617 tetrads.

It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but it is increasing its range and no longer meets the criteria for inclusion on the current RPR (Hall and Woodward, 2022)