shepherd's purse
Capsella bursa-pastoris
Summary 2
Capsella bursa-pastoris, known by its common name shepherd's-purse because of its triangular, purse-like pods, is a small (up to 0.5m) annual and ruderal species, and a member of the Brassicaceae or mustard family. 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 Britain, where it is regarded as an archaeophyte,North America and China but also in the...
Brief 3
Flowering class: Dicot Habit: Herb
Cyclicity 4
Flowering and fruiting: March-October
Description 5
Annual or biennial, up to 45 cm tall, erect, glabrous or hairy with simple or branched hairs. Basal leaves rosulate, very variable, usually pinnatifid (lyrate to almost entire), 5-8-jugate, shortly stalked, usually up to 8 cm long, 2 cm broad; cauline leaves smaller, sessile. ± auricled and clasping the stem. Racemes many flowered, up to 30 cm long in fruit. Flowers c. 2.5 mm across, white; pedicels up to 18 mm long in fruit, spreading. Sepals c. 1.5 mm long, l mm broad. Petals c. 2.5 mm long, 1 mm broad, obovate-oblong, cuneate. Stamens c. 1.5: 2 mm long. Siliculae obcordate- triangular, 5-9 mm long, 4-6 mm broad; valves usually with straight margins; apical notch wide, V-shaped ; style c. 0.5 mm long, hardly or not exceeding the notch; septum c. 1 mm broad, seeds 6-12 in each locule, c. 1 mm long, oblong-elliptic, pale brown.
Diagnostic 6
"Annual herbs, sparsely branched, erect, to 30 cm high, glabrous. Basal leaves 6-14 x 2-3.5 cm, short-stalked, rosulate, oblong-lanceolate or spathulate, pinnatipartite; cauline ones 1-7 x 0.2-2 cm, ovate-lanceolate, amplexicaul, serrate-dentate or entire, acute at apex. Racemes congested at anthesis, much elongate at maturity, to 25 cm long in fruit; pedicels spreading to horizontal. Sepals oblong, obtuse, ca 2 x 1 mm, usually green. Petals 4, spreading, lanceolate, 2-3 x 0.5-1 mm, white. Fruits obcordate to 3-angled, laterally compressed, scarcely attenuate at base, slightly emarginate at apex with a wide apical notch, 5-9 x 3.5-6 mm; seeds numerous, minute, ca 1 mm long, reddish brown to black."
Habitat 7
Weeds of cultivation.
Global distribution 8
Cosmopolitan, especially temperate and warm regions.
Sources and Credits
- (c) autan, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/56119072@N00/367986056
- Adapted by Chandan Pandey from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsella_bursa-pastoris
- (c) India Biodiversity Portal, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/26042297
- (c) India Biodiversity Portal, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/26042300
- (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4964287
- (c) India Biodiversity Portal, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/26333056
- (c) Bibliotheca Alexandrina, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22627658
- (c) Bibliotheca Alexandrina, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/22627655
More Info
- iNat taxon page
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