Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Shepherd's Purse
An early blooming member of the Mustard family (Brassicaceae), which also includes Hairy Bittercress, Yellowrocket, Whitlow-grass and Garlic Mustard, this common herb is found along the edges of cultivated ground around the world.
Although the flowers are inconspicuous, the plant has developed an identity from its distinctive heart-shaped seed pods.
It has been a staple, early spring green since ancient times; like others in this family, the leaves are highly nutritious, although slightly bitter to taste.
Around the world common names for this herb in the respective languages allude to the resemblance of the seed pods to an old-fashioned leather purse: Shepherd’s Purse, Shepherd’s Bag, Shepherd’s Scrip, Shepherd’s Sprout, Lady’s Purse, and Witches Pouch.
These old names were carried forward in the botanical Latin suffix, bursa pastoris, or Shepherds Purse.
Whitlow-grass (right), which also sports tiny white flowers, also appears in mid-March in the Shenandoah Valley, and could be mistaken for its Mustard family cousin.
A closer look—considering!—helped me to see that although each variety displays similar inconspicuous white flowers, they can be easily distinguished by their seed pods:
Whitlow-grass (right) encapsulates its seeds in pods, that, to me, look like deflated American football bladders.
Shepherd's Purse (left) seed pods are also flat, but their "purse" shape, sets them apart from all the other early bloomers, and thus to all the interesting common names given to this pot herb down through the ages.
Go to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.