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.
Open sheet →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.