Camelina alyssum is an annual or biennial plant. They commonly grow from 20 to 70 centimeterstall, but occasionally will reachone meter in height. The stems may be unbranched or only branched at the ends and are smooth in texture or only have fine downy hairs at the base of the stems. At the time they flower the leaves at the base of the plant are usually withered. The leaves on the stems are variable in shape and may have an outline like a narrow spear head, have a long rectangular shape, or narrow like a blade grass with only a slight spear-point shape. The leaves will have lobes that reach less than halfway to the midrib or have a circular wavy edge. The leaves may be anywhere from 1.5 to 10 centimeters long, but usually are 2.5–7 centimeters long. They are quite narrow, most often just 2–10 millimeters wide, but might reach 20 millimeters.