Perennial of the Brassicaceae family, native to the Balkans and the Anatolian peninsula, naturalized in various parts of Western Europe, where it colonizes old walls, calcareous rocks, embankments, and disturbed lands on well-drained substrates.
It forms clumps more robust than the average of the genus, 20-40 cm, with oval-oblong, grayish leaves, and produces in spring large corymbs of brightly colored yellow flowers. It is particularly known for its phytoextraction capabilities: research has shown that it is a hyperaccumulator of nickel, capable of absorbing and concentrating this heavy metal in its tissues at very high rates, which has made it a subject of study in the phytoremediation of polluted soils.
In ordinary gardening, it is suitable for sunny calcareous rock gardens and walls. Its relative vigor makes it an easy plant, which readily reseeds itself in joints and rocky crevices.