Shepherd's-Purse

Mustard (Brassicaceae family):

Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik.

EPPO code:

CAPBP

Other names:

Poverty weed, beggar tick, shepherd’s heart, pick purse

Species information

Lifecycle:

Winter annual or biennial.

Propagation:

Reproduces by seed.

Emergence:

Early spring.

Habitat:

Native to Europe. Found throughout Ontario in fields, gardens, roadsides and waste areas. Most commonly found in winter cereals.

Competitiveness:

In Sweden, shepherd's purse is one of the most detrimental species affecting winter cereal yields (Milberg and Hallgren, 2004).

Identification clues

Seedling

Cotyledons:

Oblong small (3–6 mm long) with very short petiole.

Leaves

First leaves:

Rounded to oval with entire margins and forming a rosette.

Mature leaves:

Arranged as a rosette. Leaves generally deeply divided, covered with star shaped hairs on surface that are most visible with a magnifying glass.

Mature plant

Stem:

Erect and with few branches, 10–60 cm tall.

Flowers:

Small cluster of white flowers each with 4 small narrower sepals and 4 large broad petals arranged in a cross formation; seedpods (silicles) are heart-shaped.

Seeds:

Oblong, 1 mm long and orange to reddish brown in colour.

Roots:

Taproot with secondary fibrous roots.

Often mistaken for

I know it's not Dandelion because Shepherd’s-purse does not excrete a milky juice when its leaf tissue is torn; its mature rosette leaves are more deeply divided and the leaf surface covered in small, star- shaped hairs.

I know it's not Stinkweed because Shepherd’s-purse lacks the “chive-like” odour of stinkweed; its leaves are deeply divided and with a surface covered in small, star-shaped hairs compared to the slightly toothed and smooth leaf surface of stinkweed.