From the Latin meaning small lobe, referring to the tiny petals.

Annual and perennial herbs, mostly hairy, the hairs forked or simple but never star-shaped. Leaves entire. Flowers white; sepals and petals 4, entire. Fruit a silicula; seeds 1 per chamber.

Differs from Alyssum in having simple or forked, not stellate, hairs and mostly white flowers; the fruit, splits along the broad axis, are less than 5 mm long, and have a 1-seeded chamber.

5 species from Macaronesia and the Mediterranean.

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Brassicaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.