Annuals, roots not fleshy; sparsely to densely pubescent. Stems usually simple from base, (2-)3-8 dm, (retrorsely hispid). Basal leaves: petiole 1-6 cm; blade oblong, obovate, or oblanceolate in outline, lyrate or pinnatifid, sometimes undivided, 3-15(-22) cm × 10-50 mm, margins dentate, apex obtuse or acute; lobes 1-4 each side, oblong or ovate, to 4 cm × 20 mm (smaller than terminal). Cauline leaves (distal) subsessile; blade often undivided. Fruiting pedicels divaricate or ascending, 7-25 mm, (straight). Flowers: sepals 7-11 × 1-2 mm, sparsely pubescent; petals yellow or creamy white (veins dark brown or purple), 15-25 × 4-7 mm, claw to 15 mm; filaments (slender), 7-12 mm; anthers 2-2.5 mm. Fruits cylindrical or narrowly lanceolate; valvular segment 1-1.5 mm; terminal segment (1.5-) 2-11(-14) cm × (2.5-)3-8(-11) mm, (base rounded), strongly constricted between seeds (usually breaking), strongly ribbed, beak narrowly conical; style 10-50 mm. Seeds (reddish brown or dark brown to black), oblong or ovoid, 2.5-3.5 × 1.8-2.5 mm. 2n = 18. Flowering May-Jul. Disturbed waste places, cultivated fields, roadsides, orchards, hill slopes; 0-800 m; introduced; Greenland; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Europe; Asia; introduced also in Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, Atlantic Islands, Australia. North American representatives of Raphanus raphanistrum are referable to subsp. raphanistrum. Four other subspecies are restricted to Europe.

Plant: Annual, biennial, erect; hairs sparse; stem generally 1, 3-8 dm, branched Leaves: basal and lower cauline petioled, generally pinnately lobed to compound, terminal lobe or leaflet widely ovate to round, >> lateral, toothed; upper cauline short-petioled to sessile, ± dentate or few-lobed; basal 6-20 cm INFLORESCENCE: racemes, many-flowered; bracts 0 Flowers: bisexual; sepals 4, free, erect, inner pair sac-like at base; petals 15-20 mm; 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: capsules with 2 deciduous valves, 4-8 cm (including beak), 3-6 mm wide; pedicel ascending, 10-25 mm; Seeds: 1 row per chamber, ± spheric; wing 0; cotyledons doubly folded Misc: Disturbed areas, fields, roadsides; < 800 m; Apr-Jun