Plants papillose, sometimes pubescent, papillae sometimes mixed with simple trichomes. Stems (0.5-)1-4(-5.6) dm. Basal leaves (often withered by flowering); petiole (0.5-)1-2(-4) cm; blade oblanceolate or oblong, (1.5-)2.5-8(-13) cm × (4-)8-20(-30) mm, base cuneate or attenuate, apex acute, surfaces glandular. Cauline leaves similar to basal, distalmost subsessile, blades smaller distally. Fruiting pedicels (2-)3-5 mm, glandular. Flowers: sepals purplish, (3-) 4-5(-6) × 0.5-0.7 mm; petals 8-10(-12) × 1-2 mm, claw 6-7 mm; filaments 4-6(-7) mm; anthers ca. 1.5 mm. Fruits slightly curved-ascending, (1.4-)1.8-2.5(-3) cm × 1.5-2 mm, with 8-12 constrictions on each side; style (6-)10-18(-22) mm. Seeds brown, 1-1.4 × 0.8-1 mm. 2n = 14. Flowering Apr-Jul. Waste places, pastures, fields, roadsides, railroad embankments, grassy slopes; 0-2300 m; introduced; Alta., B.C., Sask.; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., La., Mass., Mich., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Wash., Wyo.; Europe; Asia; n Africa; introduced also in South America. Chorispora tenella appears to be most widely distributed in Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming, of all the provinces and states listed above.

Plant: Annual; stem 1-5 dm, branched from near base Leaves: elliptic-oblong to lanceolate or oblanceolate; basal and lower cauline petioled, blades 3-8 cm, wavy-dentate to pinnately lobed; upper cauline sessile, ± entire to dentate INFLORESCENCE: raceme, bracts 0 Flowers: bisexual; sepals 4, erect, 6-8 mm, free but forming a tube; petals, free, narrowly clawed, magenta; stamens generally (2,4)6, generally 4 long, 2 short; ovary 1, superior, chambers generally 2, septum membranous, connecting 2 parietal placentas, style 1, stigma simple or 2-lobed Fruit: capsule, spreading to ascending, 35-45 mm, lanceolate, often upcurved; beak 7-20 mm; pedicel ascending, 2-4 mm, stout; style 0, stigma minute, entire; Seeds: 1 row per chamber, ± flat, embedded in cavities of septum; embryonic root at edges of both cotyledons Misc: Grainfields, roadsides, waste places; < 1300 m. References: Kearney & Peebles; Arizona Flora. McDougall; Seed plants of N. Arizona. Hickman ed.; The Jepson Manual. ASU Specimans.