Shepherd's Purse

Brassicaceae

LIFE FORM: Annual

NATIVITY: Europe

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

Grows 1 to 2 feet tall, from a basal rosette of deeply lobed leaves.

FLOWERS:

White flowers are produced in spring and inconspicuous.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

The plant's common name is derived from it distinctive fruit, which is a triangular to heart-shaped, flattened pod.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Trampled lawns in public parks; minimally maintained public parks and open space; vacant lots and rubble dump sites; abandoned grasslands (meadows); small-scale pavement openings (tree pits) and cracks; rock outcrops and stone walls.

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Salt tolerance along roadways; drought tolerance on compacted soils.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Young foliage can be used for greens. Listed by John Josselyn in New-England’s Rarities, published in 1672, under the category: “Of such plants as have sprung up since the English planted and kept cattle in New England.” Included by Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in his five volume herbal, De Materia Medica, which was written in the first century AD and remained in active use into the 1600s.