From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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[1]
but is naturalized and considered a common weed in many parts of
the world, especially in colder climates,[2]
including Britain, where it is regarded as an archaeophyte,[3][4]
North
America[5][6]
and China[7]
but also in the Mediterranean and North Africa.[1]
Capsella bursa-pastoris is closely related to the model organism
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.[6]
[7]
Like many other annual ruderals exploiting disturbed ground, C.
bursa-pastoris reproduces entirely from seed, has a long soil seed
bank,[3]
and short generation time[1]
and is capable of producing several generations each year.
Description
rosette (a), pointed leaves, flowers (c–e), pods (i, k)
C. bursa-pastoris plants grow from a rosette of
lobed leaves at the base. From the base emerges a stem about 0.2 to
0.5 meters tall, which bears a few pointed leaves which partly
grasp the stem. The flowers are white and small, in loose racemes, and produce seed pods
which are heart-shaped.[6]
Like a number of other plants in several plant families, its
seeds contain a substance known as mucilage, a condition known as myxospermy.[8]
The adaptive value of myxospermy is unknown,[8]
although the fact that mucilage becomes sticky when wet has led
some to propose that C. bursa-pastoris traps insects which
then provide nutrients to the seedling, which would make it protocarnivorous.[9]
Uses
C. bursa-pastoris is gathered from the wild[10] or
grown[11]
for food[11][7]
to supplement animal feed,[10]
for cosmetics,[10]
and for medicinal purposes.[7][10] It
is commonly used as food in Shanghai and the surrounding Jiangnan region as food,
where they are stir-fried with rice cakes and other ingredients or as part of
the filling in wontons. It is
one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the
Japanese spring-time festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku.
Herbally, it is primarily used to stop vaginal bleeding, an
action which may be attributable to the common parasitic fungus
found with it, which is related to the vasoconstrictor ergot.
Parasites
References
- ^ a
b
c
Aksoy A, Dixon JM and 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
- ^ "Capsella
bursa-pastoris". Flora of Pakistan. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=200009292.
- ^ a
b
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 Linnaean Society 145, 257-294
- ^
USDA PLANTS Profile: Capsella
bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik
- ^ a
b
c
Blanchan, Neltje (2005). Wild Flowers Worth
Knowing. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.
- ^ a
b
c
d
"Capsella
bursa-pastoris". Flora of China. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200009292.
- ^ a
b
Tamara L. Western, Debra J. Skinner,
and 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. PMID 10677428.
- ^
Barber, J.T. (1978). "Capsella
bursa-pastoris seeds: Are they "carnivorous"?". Carnivorous Plant
Newsletter 7 (2): 39–42. http://www.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/articles/CPNv07n2p39_42.pdf.
- ^ a
b
c
d
"Capsella bursa-pastoris
(Ecocrop code 4164)". ecocrop. Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/dataSheet?id=4164.
- ^ a
b
"Capsella bursa-pastoris -
(L.)Medik.". Plants For A Future database report. http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Capsella+bursa-pastoris.
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