''Capsella bursa-pastoris'', known as shepherd's purse because of its triangular flat fruits, which are purse-like, is a small

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year ** Yearbook ** Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), ...

and

ruderal A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonize disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural for example, wildfires or avalanchesor the consequences of human activities, such as construction ( of roads, of buildings, mining, et ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

in the mustard family (

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...

). It is native to eastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, but is naturalized and considered a common weed in many parts of the world, especially in colder climates, including

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...

, where it is regarded as an

archaeophyte An archaeophyte is a plant species which is non-native to a geographical region, but which was an introduced species in "ancient" times, rather than being a modern introduction. Those arriving after are called neophytes. The cut-off date is u ...

,Preston CD, Pearman DA & Dines TD (2002) New Atlas of the British Flora. Oxford University Press

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and China, but also in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and North Africa. ''C. bursa-pastoris'' is the second-most prolific wild plant in the world, and is common on cultivated ground and waysides and meadows. Scientists have referred to this species as a 'protocarnivore', since it has been found that its seeds attract and kill

nematodes The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a broa ...

as a means to locally enrich the soil.Nature - Evidence for Facultative Protocarnivory in ''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' seeds
/ref>
/ref>

History

Pictured and published in 1486.

Description

''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' plants grow from a rosette of lobed leaves at the base. From the base emerges a stem about tall, which bears a few pointed leaves which partly grasp the stem. The flowers, which appear in any month of the year in the

, are white and small, in diameter, with four petals and six stamens. They are borne in loose

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s, and produce flattened, two-chambered seed pods known as silicles, which are triangular to heart-shaped, each containing several seeds. Like a number of other plants in several plant families, its seeds contain a substance known as

mucilage Mucilage is a thick, gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion. The direction of their movement is always opposite to that of the secretion of m ...

, a condition known as myxospermy. Recently, this has been demonstrated experimentally to perform the function of trapping nematodes, as a form of 'protocarnivory'. ''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' is closely related to the

model organism A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...

such as ''

Arabidopsis thaliana ''Arabidopsis thaliana'', the thale cress, mouse-ear cress or arabidopsis, is a small flowering plant native to Eurasia and Africa. ''A. thaliana'' is considered a weed; it is found along the shoulders of roads and in disturbed land. A winter ...

'' and is also used as a model organism, due to the variety of genes expressed throughout its life cycle that can be compared to genes that are well studied in ''A. thaliana''. Unlike most

s, it

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

almost all year round. Like other annual ruderals exploiting disturbed ground, ''C. bursa-pastoris'' reproduces entirely from seed, has a long

soil seed bank The soil seed bank is the natural storage of seeds, often dormant, within the soil of most ecosystems. The study of soil seed banks started in 1859 when Charles Darwin observed the emergence of seedlings using soil samples from the bottom of a ...

, and short

generation time In population biology and demography, generation time is the average time between two consecutive generations in the lineages of a population. In human populations, generation time typically ranges from 22 to 33 years. Historians sometimes use this ...

, and is capable of producing several generations each year.

Taxonomy

It was formally described by the Swedish botanist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

in his seminal publication ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

'' in 1753, and then published by

Friedrich Kasimir Medikus Friedrich Kasimir Medikus (or Friedrich Casimir Medicus; 6 January 1738 – 8 July 1808) was a German physician and botanist. He was born at Grumbach and became director of the University of Mannheim (Theodoro Palatinae Mannheim) and curator of t ...

in ''Pflanzen-Gattungen'' (Pfl.-Gatt.) on page 85 in 1792. ''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' subsp. ''thracicus'' (Velen.) Stoj. & Stef. is the only known subspecies. William Coles wrote in his book, ''Adam in Eden'' (1657), "It is called Shepherd's purse or Scrip (wallet) from the likeness of the seed hath with that kind of leathearne bag, wherein Shepherds carry their Victualls ood and drinkinto the field." In England and Scotland, it was once commonly called 'mother's heart', from which was derived a child's game/trick of picking the seed pod, which then would burst and the child would be accused of 'breaking his mother's heart'.

Uses

''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' gathered from the wild or cultivated has many uses, including for food, to supplement animal feed, for cosmetics, and in traditional medicine—reportedly to stop bleeding. The plant can be eaten raw; the leaves are best when gathered young. Native Americans ground it into a meal and made a beverage from it.

Cooking

It is cultivated as a commercial food crop in Asia. In China, where it is known as ''jìcài'' (; ) it is commonly used in food in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

and the surrounding

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

region. The savory leaf is stir-fried with rice cakes and other ingredients or as part of the filling in

wonton A wonton () is a type of Chinese dumpling commonly found across regional styles of Chinese cuisine. It is also spelled wantan or wuntun in transliteration from Cantonese () and wenden from Shanghainese (). There are many different styles o ...

s. It is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the Japanese spring-time festival, ''

Nanakusa-no-sekku The Festival of Seven Herbs or ''Nanakusa no sekku'' ( ja, ) is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge (七草粥, ''nanakusa-gayu'', lit. "7 Herbs Rice-Congee") on January 7 ('' Jinjitsu''); one of the ''Gosekk ...

''. In Korea, it is known as ''naengi'' () and used as a root vegetable in the characteristic Korean dish,

namul Namul ( ko, 나물) refers to either a variety of edible grass or leaves or seasoned herbal dishes made of them. Wild greens are called ''san-namul'' (, "mountain namul"), and spring vegetables are called ''bom-namul'' (, "spring namul"). On t ...

(fresh greens and wild vegetables). Shepherd's purse was used as a pepper substitute in colonial New England.

Chemistry

Fumaric acid Fumaric acid is an organic compound with the formula HO2CCH=CHCO2H. A white solid, fumaric acid occurs widely in nature. It has a fruit-like taste and has been used as a food additive. Its E number is E297. The salts and esters are known as fu ...

is one chemical substance that has been isolated from ''C. bursa-pastoris''.

Parasites

Parasites of this plant include: * White rust ''

Albugo candida ''Albugo candida'', commonly known as white rust, is a species of oomycete in the family Albuginaceae. It is sometimes called a fungus, but in fact forms part of a distinct lineage of fungus-like microorganisms, Oomycetes, commonly known as wa ...

'' * One species of downy mildew '' Hyaloperonospora parasitica'' * '' Phoma herbarum''Helgi Hallgrímsson & Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir (2004)
''Íslenskt sveppatal I - smásveppir'' [Checklist of Icelandic Fungi I - Microfungi
Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands [Icelandic Institute of Natural History]. ISSN 1027-832X

References

External links

Mrs. M. Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Shepherd's Purse
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q27264 bursa-pastoris Carnivorous plants of Europe Cosmopolitan species Ruderal species Edible plants Asian vegetables Medicinal plants of Asia Medicinal plants of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Plants used in Native American cuisine