Capsella bursa-pastoris

'Shepherd's Purse'

[Ex. Somerset, England]

Brassicaceae: distinctive annual to 35cm, found on arable fields, tracks, gardens and wayside ground. The flowers are small and white, and appear from January to December. The fruit are green, triangular and notched, I think look like small hearts. The leaves are usually toothed and clasping the stem. Widespread and common throughout the UK. Found in most regions of the world.

USES:

The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. The young leaves, used before the plant comes into flower, make a fine addition to salads. The leaves are a cress and cabbage substitute, becoming peppery with age. The leaves are usually available all year round, though they can also be dried for later use. The leaves are rich in iron, calcium and vitamin C. The young flowering shoots can be eaten raw or cooked, they are rather thin and fiddly but the taste is quite acceptable. The seedpods can be used as a peppery seasoning for soups and stews, and the fresh or dried root is a ginger substitute.

Shepherd's purse is little used in herbalism, though it is a commonly used domestic remedy, being especially efficacious in the treatment of both internal and external bleeding, diarrhoea. A tea made from the whole plant has antiscorbutic, astringent, diuretic, and emmenagogue, haemostatic, hypotensive, oxytocic, stimulant, vasoconstrictor, vasodilator and vulnerary properties.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Shepherd's purse will grow even in the poorest of soils, though in such a situation the plants might only reach a few centimetres tall before they flower and set seed. On rich soils the plants will take longer to go to seed and will grow up to 60cm tall. Surface sow in situ February to May. Seed can also be sown as late as mid-autumn. Very Easy.

HARVESTED: 2020

 

APPROX, 1000+ SEEDS