• Scientific Name: Orychophragmus violaceus (L.) O.E.Schulz
• Ref: Beibl. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 119:56, 1916
• Synonyms:
  • Arabis chanetii H.Lév.
  • Brassica violacea L.
  • Cardamine potentillifolia H.Lév.
  • Moricandia sonchifolia (Bunge) Ledeb.
  • Orychophragmus sonchifolius Bunge
  • Raphanus chanetii H.Lév.
  • R. courtoisii H.Lév.
  • R. violaceus (L.) Crantz
• English Common Name: Chinese violet cress
• Chinese Common Name: 诸葛菜 Zhūgě cài, 二月蓝/二月兰 èryuè∙lán, 短梗南芥 duǎngěng nánjiè
• Japanese Common Name: オオアラセイトウ [大紫羅欄花] ōaraseitō, ショカツサイ [諸葛菜] shokatsusai, ムラサキハナナ [紫花菜] murasakihanana, シキンソウ [紫金草] shikinsō
• Family: Brassicaceae
• Genus: Orychophragmus
• Distribution: Roadsides, gardens, forests, fields, thickets, valleys, hillsides, sunny slopes; near sea level to 1500 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Korea; naturalized in Japan].

Herbs annual or biennial, (6-)15-60(-90) cm tall. Stems erect, simple or branched at base, often branched above, straight, glabrous or sparsely to densely pilose. Basal leaves not rosulate; petiole (1-)2-8(-11) cm; blade or terminal leaf lobe cordate, reniform, broadly ovate, or suborbicular, (0.4-)1.5-10(-14) × (0.3-)1-4(-7) cm, glabrous or pilose, base cordate or rarely obtuse, margin coarsely crenate with teeth ending in apiculae, apex acute or obtuse; lateral lobes 1-6 on each side, sessile or petiolulate, to 3 × 2 cm, sometimes absent. Uppermost cauline leaves auriculate or amplexicaul, sessile or petiolate, (0.5-)2-9(-15) × (0.2-)1-6(-9) cm, margin coarsely and irregularly dentate, rarely entire, apex acute or acuminate; auricles to 3 × 4 cm; lateral lobes absent or 1-4 on each side, sessile or petiolulate. Fruiting pedicels divaricate, glabrous or pilose, narrower than fruit, (0.6-)0.8-2(-3) cm. Sepals linear, erect, connivent, (0.6-)0.8-1.3(-1.6) cm × 1.5-2.5 mm, base of lateral pair strongly saccate. Petals deep purple, lavender, or white, broadly obovate, (1.2-)1.6-2.5(-3.2) cm × (4-)5-9(-11) mm, apex rounded; claw as long as sepals. Filaments 0.8-1.8 cm; anthers linear, (3-)4-6(-8) mm, distinctly apiculate. Ovules (20-)40-70 per ovary. Fruit narrowly linear, stout, terete or somewhat 4-angled, (3-)4.5-11(-13) cm × 1.5-3 mm; valves glabrous or densely hirsute, torulose, usually with a prominent midvein; style (0.3-)0.7-3(-5.5) cm; stigma slightly to distinctly 2-lobed, lobes decurrent. Seeds oblong, 2-3(-3.5) × 1-2 mm. Fl. Mar-Jun, fr. May-Jul. 2n = 24. (Flora of China)