Annual herb, up to 100 cm. high with 1-few shoots from the base, unbranched or with rather few long branches in the upper part, sparsely hispid on stem and leaves.. Lower leaves petiolate, up to 18 cm. long and 5 cm. broad, spathulate to lyrate-pinnatifid, with up to 4 pairs of triangular to oblong lateral lobes, margins irregularly dentate, sinuate or repand; upper leaves similar but ± sessile, shorter, narrower and usually less divided.. Racemes ebracteate or with bracts at the lowermost pedicels, dense, with numerous small flowers; in fruit lax, up to 40 cm. long with 5–20 mm. long ascending slender pedicels.. Sepals oblong, 2.5–3.5 mm. long, sparsely hispidulous.. Petals yellow, spathulate to almost clawed, with oblong blade, 3.5–6 mm. long, ± 2 mm. broad.. Longer stamens 4–5.5 mm. long, anthers ± 1 mm. long.. Nectaries as lobes at both sides of each lateral stamen and as one lobe outside each pair of median stamens.. Ovary glabrous or with short hairs; stigma semiglobose.. Siliquae straight, often torulose, 15–50 mm. long, ± 1.5 mm. broad; beak 1.5–4.5 mm. long; valves glabrous or sparsely hispidulous.. Seeds light to dark brown, oblong to elliptic in outline, 0.8–1.2 mm. long, smooth to very finely reticulate.. Fig. 2.
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An annual creeping herb. It lies along the ground. It grows each year from seeds. It grows 1 m high. The leaves are in a ring and are grey-green. They are slightly hairy. The leaves are divided and 18 cm long by 5 cm wide. The large lobe at the end is rounded. The flowers are yellow. They are on long slender shoots. The fruit is a long slender capsule. It can be 5 cm long. The seeds are brown.
It is a tropical plant. In Ethiopia it grows in the highlands. In Kenya it grows from sea level to 2,500 m altitude. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall between 1,100-1,900 mm. It can grow in arid places.
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Disturbed places in upland forest, a weed in cultivated land; at elevations from sea level to 3,170 metres, though mainly at 1,500-2,000 metres.
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