Shepherd’s Purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris, is a wild edible and medicinal plant that can be found throughout most the year. You can eat the leaves and seedpods. It was used medicinally  for headache, dysentery, diarrhea and as a poison ivy remedy.

Shepherd’s Purse Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.

Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 38-39

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 136

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 150-151

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 26-27

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.