Capsella bursa-pastoris

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids II
Ordo: Brassicales

Familia: Brassicaceae
Tribus: Camelineae
Genus: Capsella
Species: Capsella bursa-pastoris
Name

Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik., 1792
Synonyms

Bursa bursa-pastoris Shafer
Bursa djurdjurae Shull
Bursa fracticruris Borbás
Bursa grandiflora Kuntze
Bursa nana (Baumg.) Borbás
Bursa occidentalis Shull
Bursa orientalis Shull
Bursa pastoris Weber
Bursa penarthae Shull
Bursa rubella Druce
Bursa tuscaloosae Shull
Bursa viguieri Shull
Capsella agrestis Jord.
Capsella alpestris Miégev.
Capsella apetala Opiz
Capsella batavorum E.B.Almq.
Capsella bursa-pastoris var. bursa-pastoris
Capsella bursa-pastoris subsp. bursa-pastoris
Capsella bursa-pastoris subsp. eu-bursa Briq.
Capsella bursa-pastoris var. integrifolia DC.
Capsella bursa-pastoris var. minuta Post
Capsella bursa-pastoris subsp. occidentalis (Shull) Maire
Capsella concava E.B.Almq.
Capsella heegeri Solms.
Capsella hyrcana Grossh.
Capsella lycia Stapf
Capsella mediterranea E.B.Almq.
Capsella patagonica E.B.Almq.
Capsella penarthae (Shull) Wilmott
Capsella polymorpha Cav.
Capsella ruderalis Jord.
Capsella stenocarpa (Crép.) Timb.-Lagr.
Capsella thomsonii Hook.f.
Capsella treviorum E.B.Almq.
Capsella turoniensis E.B.Almq.
Capsella viguieri Blaringhem
Lepidium bursa-pastoris (L.) Willd.
Nasturtium bursa-pastoris (L.) Roth
Solmsiella heegeri (Solms-Laub.) Borbás
Thlaspi bursa-pastoris L.

References

Medikus, F.K. 1792: Pflanzen-Gattungen... Mannheim 85.

Links

Koch, M.A. et al. 2019. Capsella bursa-pastoris in BrassiBase Tools and biological resources to study characters and traits in the Brassicaceae. Published online. Accessed: 2019 May 27.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Capsella bursa-pastoris. Published online. Accessed: May 27 2019.
The Plant List 2013. Capsella bursa-pastoris in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published online. Accessed: 2019 May 27.
Tropicos.org 2019. Capsella bursa-pastoris. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 27 May 2019.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Capsella bursa-pastoris in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 09-Oct-10.

Vernacular names
العربية: كيس الراعي, کیس الراعي
azərbaycanca: Adi quşəppəyi
български: овчарска торбичка
català: Sarronets de pastor
čeština: Kokoška pastuší tobolka
Cymraeg: Pwrs y bugail
dansk: Almindelig Hyrdetaske
Deutsch: Gewöhnliches Hirtentäschel
English: Shepherd's purse
español: Bolsa del pastor
euskara: Artzain-zaku
فارسی: کیسه کشیش, کیسهٔ کشیش
suomi: Lutukka
Nordfriisk: Snoot
français: Bourse à Pasteur
Frysk: Leppeltsjedief
Gaeilge: Lus an sparáin
Gàidhlig: An Sporan
galego: Panqueixo
hrvatski: Rusomača
hornjoserbsce: Wutrobičkojte wačoški
magyar: Pásztortáska
italiano: Borsa di pastore
日本語: ナズナ
한국어: 냉이, 냉이꽃, 나생이
kurdî: Nivîştîlok
lietuvių: Trikertė žvaginė
Nedersaksies: Lepeldief
Nederlands: Herderstasje
polski: Tasznik Pospolity
português: Bolsa-de-pastor
română: Traista-ciobanului
русский: Пастушья сумка обыкновенная
srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски: Rusomača
slovenčina: Kapsička pastierska
српски / srpski: Хоћу-нећу / Hoću-neću
svenska: Lomme
Tagalog: Pitaka ng pastol
Türkçe: Çobançantası
українська: Грицики звичайні
oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча: Jagʻ-jagʻ
walon: Malete-di-bierdjî
中文（简体）: 荠菜
中文（繁體）: 薺菜

Capsella bursa-pastoris, known as shepherd'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).[2] It is native to eastern Europe and Asia minor,[3] but is naturalized and considered a common weed in many parts of the world, especially in colder climates,[4] including British Isles,[5] where it is regarded as an archaeophyte,[6][7] North America[8][9] and China,[10] but also in the Mediterranean and North Africa.[3] C. bursa-pastoris is the second-most prolific wild plant in the world,[10] and is common on cultivated ground and waysides and meadows.[11]

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.[12][13]

History

Pictured and published in 1486.[14]
Description
Rosette (a), pointed leaves, flowers (c–e), pods (i, k)

Capsella bursa-pastoris plants grow from a rosette of lobed leaves at the base. From the base emerges a stem about 0.2–0.5 m (0.66–1.64 ft) tall, 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,[11]: 56  are white and small, 2.5 mm (0.098 in) in diameter, with four petals and six stamens.[11] 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.[9]

Like a number of other plants in several plant families, its seeds contain a substance known as mucilage, a condition known as myxospermy.[15] Recently, this has been demonstrated experimentally to perform the function of trapping nematodes, as a form of 'protocarnivory'.[12][13][16]

Capsella bursa-pastoris is closely related to the model organism such as Arabidopsis thaliana 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 flowering plants, it flowers almost all year round.[9][10] Like other annual ruderals exploiting disturbed ground, C. bursa-pastoris reproduces entirely from seed, has a long soil seed bank,[6] and short generation time,[3] and is capable of producing several generations each year.
Taxonomy

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.) on page 85 in 1792.[17][18]

Capsella bursa-pastoris subsp. thracicus (Velen.) Stoj. & Stef. is the only known subspecies.[17]

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 [food and drink] into the field."[19]

In England and Scotland, it was once commonly called 'mother's heart', which is derived from 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'.[19]
Uses

Capsella bursa-pastoris gathered from the wild or cultivated[20][21] has many uses, including for food,[10][21] to supplement animal feed,[20] for cosmetics,[20] and in traditional medicine[10][20]—reportedly to stop bleeding.[22] The plant can be eaten raw;[23] the leaves are best when gathered young.[24] Native Americans ground it into a meal and made a beverage from it.[22]
Cooking

It is cultivated as a commercial food crop in Asia.[25] In China, where it is known as jìcài (荠菜; 薺菜) it is commonly used in food in Shanghai and the surrounding Jiangnan region. It is stir-fried with rice cakes and other ingredients or as part of the filling in wontons.[26] 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 (냉이) and used as a root vegetable in the characteristic Korean dish, namul (fresh greens and wild vegetables).[27]

Shepherd's purse was used as a pepper substitute in colonial New England.[28]

Nanakusa-gayu (seven herb congee)

Naengi-doenjang-guk (soybean paste soup with shepherd's purse)

Chemistry

Fumaric acid is one chemical substance that has been isolated from C. bursa-pastoris.[29]
Parasites

Parasites of this plant include:

White rust Albugo candida
One species of downy mildew Hyaloperonospora parasitica

References

"Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik". Plants of the World Online. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
Parnell, J. Curtis, T. (2012). Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-185918-4783.
Aksoy, A; Dixon, JM; Hale, WH (1998). "Biological flora of the British Isles. Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medikus (Thlaspi bursapastoris L., Bursa bursa-pastoris (L.) Shull, Bursa pastoris (L.) Weber)". Journal of Ecology. 86: 171–186. arXiv:1303.1393. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2745.1998.00260.x.
"Capsella bursa-pastoris". Flora of Pakistan.
Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04656-4
Preston CD, Pearman DA & Dines TD (2002) New Atlas of the British Flora. Oxford University Press
Preston, CD; Pearman, DA; Hall, AR (2004). "Archaeophytes in Britain". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 145 (3): 257–294. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2004.00284.x.
USDA PLANTS Profile: Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik
Blanchan, Neltje (2005). Wild Flowers Worth Knowing. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.
"Capsella bursa-pastoris". Flora of China.
Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G.; Warburg, E.F. (1981). Excursion Flora of the British Isles (Third ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521232906.
Nature - Evidence for Facultative Protocarnivory in Capsella bursa-pastoris seeds
Telegraph - Tomatoes Can Eat Insects
Morton, A.G. (1981). History of Botanical Science'. Academic Press. pp. 96–97. ISBN 0125083823.
Tamara L. Western; Debra J. Skinner; George W. Haughn (February 2000). "Differentiation of Mucilage Secretory Cells of the Arabidopsis Seed Coat". Plant Physiology. 122 (2): 345–355. doi:10.1104/pp.122.2.345. PMC 58872. PMID 10677428.
Barber, J.T. (1978). "Capsella bursa-pastoris seeds: Are they "carnivorous"?" (PDF). Carnivorous Plant Newsletter. 7 (2): 39–42.
"Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik. is an accepted name". theplantlist.org. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
"Brassicaceae Capsella bursa-pastoris Medik". ipni.org. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
Reader's Digest Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain. Reader's Digest. 1981. p. 54. ISBN 9780276002175.
"Capsella bursa-pastoris (Ecocrop code 4164)". ecocrop. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
"Capsella bursa-pastoris - (L.)Medik". Plants For A Future database report.
Nyerges, Christopher (2017). Foraging Washington: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides. ISBN 978-1-4930-2534-3. OCLC 965922681.
Nyerges, Christopher (2016). Foraging Wild Edible Plants of North America: More than 150 Delicious Recipes Using Nature's Edibles. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-4930-1499-6.
Benoliel, Doug (2011). Northwest Foraging: The Classic Guide to Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest (Rev. and updated ed.). Seattle, WA: Skipstone. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-59485-366-1. OCLC 668195076.
Mills, David (March 11, 2014). Nature's Restaurant: Fields, Forests & Wetlands Foods of Eastern North America - A Complete Wild Food Guide.
Samuels, Debra (12 May 2015). "This Chinese grandma forages and cooks". bostonglobe.com. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
Pratt, Keith L.; Richard Rutt; James Hoare (1999). Korea: a historical and cultural dictionary. Richmond, Surrey.: Curzon Press. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-7007-0464-4.
Hussey, Jane Strickland (Jul–Sep 1974). "Some Useful Plants of Early New England". Economic Botany. 28 (3): 311–337. doi:10.1007/BF02861428. JSTOR 4253521. S2CID 12764441.
Kuroda, K.; Akao, M.; Kanisawa, M.; Miyaki, K. (1976). "Inhibitory effect of Capsella bursa-pastoris extract on growth of Ehrlich solid tumor in mice". Cancer Research. 36 (6): 1900–1903. PMID 1268843.