Shepherd's Purse

''Capsella bursa-pastoris'', known as shepherd's purse or lady's purse because of its triangular flat fruits, which are purse-like, is a small annual and ruderal flowering plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae).

Scientists have referred to this species as a protocarnivore, since it has been found that its seeds attract and kill nematodes as a means to locally enrich the soil.

It is native to Eurasia but is naturalized and considered a common weed in many parts of the world, especially in colder climates. It has a number of culinary uses.

Description

''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' plants grow from a rosette of lobed leaves at the base. From the base emerges a stem most often tall, but occasionally as much as or as little as , which bears a few pointed leaves which partly grasp the stem. The flowers, which appear in any month of the year in the British Isles, are white and small, in diameter, with four petals and six stamens. They are borne in loose racemes, 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, a condition known as myxospermy. Recently, this has been demonstrated experimentally to perform the function of trapping nematodes, as a form of ' protocarnivory'.Nature - Evidence for Facultative Protocarnivory in ''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' seeds
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''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' is closely related to the model organism '' Arabidopsis thaliana'' and is also used as a model organism, because the variety of genes expressed throughout its life cycle can be compared to genes that have been well studied in ''A. thaliana''. Unlike most flowering plants, it flowers almost all year round. Like other annual ruderals exploiting disturbed ground, ''C. bursa-pastoris'' reproduces entirely from seed, has a long soil seed bank, and short generation time, and is capable of producing several generations each year.

Chemistry

Fumaric acid has been isolated from ''C. bursa-pastoris''.

Taxonomy

''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' is classified in the ''Capsella'' genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae. It has two subspecies, ''bursa-pastoris'' and ''thracicus''.

History

In China, where it is known as ''jìcài'' (; ), the term first appears in the song and poetry collection Shijing (). However, these early mentions may not be refereing to Shepherd's purse, but to other plants. While today ji clearly indicates this species, previously it was used for all plants with leaves consumed in soups.

A very early European illustration of ''Capsella bursa-pastoris'' was published in a medieval ''Herbarius'' in approximately 1486. The book was printed in Louvain in what is now Belgium. The species was apparently not included in the ancient pharmacopoeia with William Turner stating in 1548 that it and twenty or thirty others had come to be known as medicinal plants from Arab sources.

It was formally described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his seminal publication ''Species Plantarum'' in 1753, and then published by Friedrich Kasimir Medikus in ''Pflanzen-Gattungen'' (Pfl.-Gatt.) in 1792.

Names

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'.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to eastern Europe and Asia minor, but is naturalized and considered a common weed in many parts of the world, especially in colder climates, including the British Isles, where it is regarded as an archaeophyte, North America and China, but also in the Mediterranean 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.

Ecology

Pathogens of this plant include:
* White rust ''Albugo candida''
* 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

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'' (; ) its use as food has been recorded since the Zhou Dynasty. Historically, it was used to make geng soup, congee, and preserved as ''yāncài'' ( ). In the Ming-dynasty famine survival guide Jiuhuang bencao, it was recommended to mix ''jìcài'' with water and other ingredients to make bread-like bing. Today, it is commonly used in food in Shanghai and the surrounding Jiangnan region. The savory leaf is stir-fried with nian gao rice cakes and other ingredients or as part of the filling in wontons. It is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the Japanese spring-time festival, '' Nanakusa-no-sekku''. In Korea, it is known as ''naengi'' () and used as a root vegetable in the characteristic Korean dish, namul (fresh greens and wild vegetables).

Culture

In a poem in the Shijing, the taste of the ''jìcài'' was compared to a happy marriage. Its sweet taste is also recorded in the Erya lexicon, compiled ).

Nanakusa gayu on Nanakusa no sekku.jpg, '' Nanakusa- gayu'' (seven herb congee)
Naengi-doenjang-guk.jpg, ''Naengi- doenjang-guk'' (soybean paste soup with shepherd's purse)
Shepherd's purse cod fishballs.jpg, Fish balls made of cod and shepherd's purse

References

External links

Mrs. M. Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Shepherd's Purse
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{{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