Medium to tall hairless plant. Basal leaves with 2 to 5 pairs of lateral lobes, uppermost leaves unlobed, toothed. Flowers bright yellow, 7 to 9 mm, in often branched racemes. Buds hairless, fruit 15 to 30 mm stiffly erect.

other Barbarea; other yellow crucifers

Basal leaves pinnate; seed-pods appressed (folded up against stem); upper leaves simple or lobed < halfway to midrib; flower-buds glabrous

General photo of plant in habitat; details of basal and stem leaves. 

Water margins, damp meadows and ditches.

May to August.

Biennial or perennial.

Fairly common throughout Britain especially in the south-east.

Fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 393 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, occasional