Shepherd”s Purse, or Purse
Shepherd”s purse, or Capsella (lat. Capsella) is a genus of herbaceous medicinal plants belonging to the Brassicaceae family.
If many herbs used by folk healers to treat human ailments are not recognized by official medicine as human medicinal assistants, then plants of the Shepherd”s purse genus are widely used by both. Although the unsightly, rustic appearance of the plant does not attract much attention from people who are far from both medicine and the plant kingdom, being very often an ordinary annoying weed of gardens, vegetable gardens and agricultural fields.
What”s in your name
The genus of plants owes its Latin name “Capsella”, which means “casket or box” to the shape of its fruits.
The genus has numerous popular synonymous names. In English-speaking countries it is called “Shepherd’s purse”, which is literally translated into Russian as “Shepherd’s Purse”, since the heart-shaped shape of the fruits of plants of the genus is very similar in appearance to the traditional shoulder bags of European shepherds.
Description
Shepherd”s purse is a surprisingly resilient and prolific plant that begins to bloom with light pink, white or fawn small flowers in May. Flowering continues continuously until October. This entire period is accompanied by the transformation of self-pollinating flowers into those same “shepherd’s bags”, inside of which numerous seeds are located. Experiments conducted by botanists have shown that individual plants, under favorable conditions, are capable of producing more than 59 thousand seeds that can survive in the soil for a long period of time.
Thanks to these abilities, unpretentious plants of the Shepherd”s Purse genus have become a cosmopolitan weed for temperate regions around the world. The shepherd”s purse has also managed to establish residence in the higher, cooler regions of the tropics.
Having a number of identical features, species of the genus differ from each other in the height of the plant, the size and shape of the leaves, the size of the flowers and fruits, and the number of seeds produced. Reproduction occurs exclusively through sowing seeds.
There are two types of plants. Spring plants produce vigorous spring shoots and grow very quickly, starting to produce seeds within a month after their appearance in this world. Therefore, during the summer season they manage to please the planet for two or three generations, which does not at all please the workers who grow cereals and vegetables in the fields. The second type of Shepherd”s purse are overwintering plants, which in the fall give rise to dense, spreading rosettes of leaves, blocking the way for winter field crops, forcing field workers to use various methods of weed control.
The healing powers of the Shepherd”s Purse
If for agriculture the Shepherd”s Purse is tantamount to the invasion of plague on human communities, then for medicine it is a real find with a lot of advantages. Moreover, the plant received recognition from both traditional healers and official medicine.
All above-ground parts of the Shepherd”s purse, collected in the early morning during the flowering period of the plant, have healing abilities. It would seem that the chemical composition of the plant does not differ in anything special, demonstrating the presence of alkaloids, macroelements, microelements, a number of standard vitamins (“A”, “B2”, “C”), potassium., which is easy to detect in many other representatives of the plant world. However, Shepherd”s Purse leads in its ability to stop bleeding in the human body, be it external or internal.
In addition, Shepherd”s Purse can heal purulent wounds, fight inflammatory processes, improve the functioning of blood vessels, cleansing them of unwanted invaders, and calm frayed nerves.
Like any medicine, Shepherd”s Purse also has contraindications for the use of preparations from the plant. Therefore, when resorting to self-medication, you should consult a specialist.
The leaves, flowers and seeds of the plant are quite suitable for human nutrition.
