Shepherd's purse
Capsella bursa-pastoris
Family · Brassicaceae · Harmless
The crucifer with tiny white flowers and inverted heart-shaped pods, present on any disturbed ground in the world. The pods look like the pouches shepherds carried, hence the name in every language.
Town and roadside · Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asshepherd's bag, witches' pouches
How to tell it
The flat triangular pods, like small upside-down hearts, along a thin stem, are unmistakable. A basal rosette of cut leaves. Tiny white four-petalled flowers.
What it is confused with
Charlock
Sinapis arvensis
Both crucifers and both edible. Charlock has a yellow flower and a long pod; shepherd's purse has a white flower and a flat heart-shaped pod.
What it is for
Young leaves in salad or cooked, with a mustard edge, and the green pods are used as a peppery seasoning. It was a folk remedy to stop bleeding across Europe.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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