Capsella bursa-pastoris, commonly known asshepherd's purse orlady's purse,[2] is a small flowering plant in themustard family.[3] It has been described as aprotocarnivore because its seeds containmucilage, which trapsnematodes.
The plant 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.
Capsella bursa-pastoris is aruderal and anannual orbiennial plant.[4][5] It grows from arosette of lobed leaves at the base. From the base emerges a stem most often 10–50 cm (4–20 in) tall, but occasionally as much as 70 cm (28 in) or as little as 2 cm (3⁄4 in), which bears a few pointedleaves partly grasping the stem,[6] each up to6.5 cm (2+1⁄2 in) long.[7]
The flowers, which appear in any month of the year in theBritish Isles,[8] are white and small,2.5 mm (1⁄8 in) in diameter, with four petals and six stamens.[8] They are borne in looseracemes, and produce flattened, two-chambered seed pods known as silicles, which are about 6 mm long[7] and 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 asmucilage, a condition known as myxospermy.[10] Recently, this has been demonstrated experimentally to perform the function of trappingnematodes, as a form of 'protocarnivory'.[11][12][13]
Capsella bursa-pastoris is closely related to themodel organismArabidopsis 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 inA. thaliana. Unlike mostflowering plants, it flowers almost all year round.[9][14] Like other annual ruderals exploitingdisturbed ground,C. bursa-pastoris reproduces entirely from seed, has a longsoil seed bank[15] and shortgeneration time;[16] it is capable of producing several generations each year.
A very early European illustration ofCapsella bursa-pastoris was published in a medievalHerbarius in approximately 1486. The book was printed inLouvain in what is now Belgium. The species was apparently not included in the ancientpharmacopoeia withWilliam Turner stating in 1548 that it and twenty or thirty others had come to be known as medicinal plants from Arab sources.[18]
The genus namecapsella means 'little box' and thespecific epithetbursa-pastoris means 'purse of the shepherd'.[7]William Coles wrote in his bookAdam 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."[20]
It is native to eastern Europe andAsia minor,[16] but is naturalized and considered a common weed in many parts of the world, especially in colder climates,[21] including theBritish Isles[22] (where it is regarded as anarchaeophyte),[15][23] North America,[24][9] and China,[14] but also in theMediterranean and North Africa.[16]C. bursa-pastoris is the second-most prolific wild plant in the world[14] and is common on cultivated ground and waysides and meadows.[8]
Capsella bursa-pastoris gathered from the wild or cultivated[26][27] has many uses, including for food,[14][27] to supplement animal feed,[26] for cosmetics,[26] and in traditional medicine[14][26]—reportedly to stop bleeding.[28] The plant can be eaten raw;[29] the leaves are best when gathered young.[30] Native Americans ground it into a meal and made a beverage from it.[28]
It is cultivated as a commercial food crop in Asia.[31] In China, where it is known asjìcài (荠菜;薺菜) its use as food has been recorded since theZhou Dynasty. Historically, it was used to make geng soup,congee, and preserved asyāncài (醃菜 ). In the Ming-dynasty famine survival guideJiuhuang bencao, it was recommended to mixjìcài with water and other ingredients to make bread-likebing.[32] Today, it is commonly used in food inShanghai and the surroundingJiangnan region. The savory leaf is stir-fried withnian gao rice cakes and other ingredients or as part of the filling inwontons.[33] 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 asnaengi (냉이) and used as a root vegetable in the characteristic Korean dish,namul (fresh greens and wild vegetables).[34]
In China, where it is known asjìcài (荠菜;[35]薺菜), the term first appears in the song and poetry collectionShijing (c. 1000 – 600BCE),[36] although this may refer to other plants. While todayji clearly indicates this species, previously it was used for all plants with leaves consumed in soups.[37] In a poem in theShijing, the taste of thejìcài was compared to a happy marriage.[38] Its sweet taste is also recorded in theErya lexicon, compiledc. 500 – 100 BCE).[39]
In England and Scotland, the species 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'.[20]
^abcClapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G.; Warburg, E.F. (1981).Excursion Flora of the British Isles (Third ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 56.ISBN978-0521232906.
^abPreston, CD; Pearman, DA; Dines, TD (2002).New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0198510673.
^abcAksoy, 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.S2CID84689066.
^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.PMID1268843.
^Benoliel, Doug (2011).Northwest Foraging: The Classic Guide to Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest (Rev. and updated ed.). Seattle, WA: Skipstone. p. 139.ISBN978-1-59485-366-1.OCLC668195076.
^Pratt Keith L.; Richard Rutt; James Hoare (1999).Korea: a historical and cultural dictionary. Richmond, Surrey.: Curzon Press. p. 310.ISBN978-0-7007-0464-4.
^Waley, Arthur; Allen, Joseph Roe (1996).The book of songs. New York: Grove Press. pp. xv, 31.ISBN978-0-8021-3477-6.
^Needham, Joseph; Métailié, Georges (2015).Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 6 Biology and Biological Technology Part IV: Traditional Botany: An Ethnobotanical Approach. Translated by Lloyd, Janet. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 15.ISBN978-1-107-10987-2. Retrieved29 December 2024.
^Legge, James; Zuoqiu, Ming Zuo zhuan (1893).The Chinese classics. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 56. Retrieved29 December 2024.
^"Erya – Ji".Chinese Text Project. Retrieved29 December 2024.
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