Shepherd's-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris Mustard family (Brassicaceae)
The common name is an apt description of the plant's seed, which resembles a purse. A weedy mustard from Europe, Shepherd's-Purse now occurs in almost every county of every state in the United States. A single plant can produce up to 40,000 seeds. Shepherd's Purse is also host for several diseases of cultivated plants. In 1753 Linnaeus named this species.
Introduced , 4-18" tall. Stem smooth or finely hairy and commonly branched. Leaves broadly , or , and . in and stem , smaller and . Small inconspicuous white flowers comprised of 4 petals, 4 green , 6 , and a single . Flowers begin in dense rounded clusters, then into as they develop . distinctive flattened purse-shaped pods containing numerous seeds.
stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower;
The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.
rosette -- usually a dense cluster of leaves at the base of a plant.
A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.
An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production
of seed, within one year, and then dies.
cross -- To make something interbreed. The act of hybridization.
Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud,
and often as support for the petals when in bloom.
A pistil is the female structure of many flowers. It contains one or more carpels.
Each carpel contins an ovary, style and stigma. The stigma receives the pollen which grows
thru the style to reach the ovary.
Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.
It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
stalk -- The supporting structure of an organ. Examples of stalks are stem, peduncle, petiole, ...
leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.
basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.
elongate -- long and thin, slender.
A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers
having short floral stalks along its axis.
pinnately lobed -- Having lobes pinnately arranged on the central axis.
A clasping leaf suroundes part of all of the stem.
lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.