An herbaceous weed naturalized from the Mediterranean, shepherd’s purse is widespread and abundant in North America, primarily where humans have invaded and where the soil has been disturbed. It also grows in more stable soil, like lawns, vacant lots, old fields, and landscape beds.
Shepherd’s Purse has many common names, such as Shepherd’s heart, Shepherd’s pounce, Toywort, Bolsa de Pastor and Pickpocket.
Maybe you’re wondering why this matters. What’s so important about shepherd’s purse, after all? It’s just a weed, isn’t it?
Well, yes and no. It is a weed, but it’s a very useful one. This little plant isn’t just tasty and nutritious; it also has some very useful medicinal qualities. Learning to recognize, harvest and use it is worthwhile for any prepper.
Related: 16 Wild Edibles You Didn’t Know You Could Forage For
Identifying Shepherd’s Purse
Shepherd’s purse loves moisture, loose fertile soil, and cold weather. That being said, as long as the seeds have enough moisture to germinate and the plant can get established it can grow just about anywhere, even in poor soil, hot weather, and dry conditions.
What you’re looking for is a plant that looks a little like a small dandelion, but with a cluster of small flowers instead of one large one.
Luckily there are some reliable ways to identify it. First, shepherd’s purse leaves are consistently smaller than dandelion, cat’s ear, and sow thistle. Second, they are very regular in design.
Look at the leaves of the plants. Note how consistent in shape the shepherd’s purse leaves are to each other.
There is a tapered leaf stem (petiole) leading to regular lobes on each side of the leaf. The top third of the leaf is larger than the middle or the lower third.
Looking closely at the leaves – you might need a hand magnifier – you’ll also see tiny hair-like spines along the edges.
Older plants will grow a flower stem from the center of the leaf cluster. This stem will have a cluster of flowers at the top and probably leaves growing along its length.
Once flowers are fertilized they turn into green, heart-shaped seed pods; the stem will keep growing and a new cluster of flowers forms at the tip.
Older plants can be recognized by the distinctive pods growing along their length.
New flower stems can also branch out from the main one.
Harvesting the Plant
The best time to gather shepherd’s purse for food is early spring and late fall. At these times of year the cooler, wetter weather means each plant keeps producing leaves for longer before it starts to push up a flower stem.
If you harvest in summer you’ll find that the plants switch to producing a flower stem earlier. If there’s enough rain summer plants can still produce a good crop of leaves, but it’s more of a gamble in warmer weather.
Related: September Crops for a Fall Harvest
Edible Parts
If you find shepherd’s purse growing near you, mark the spot – it’s a useful food source. Most parts of the plant – the leaves, buds, flowers and the tips of leafy stems – can be eaten, and they’re very nutritious. Shepherd’s purse is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, iron, and zinc.
It also has Vitamin C and manganese levels that are just as good as most cultivated vegetables.
Shepherd’s purse is tasty, too. If you get young leaves and stems from lush plants that are growing fast in a good location, they make an ideal salad green you can use in place of lettuce or spinach. Just trim the base from larger leaves to remove the stem, which can be chewy.
The actual taste ranges from mild to quite peppery depending on the conditions the plant grew in.
You can also boil shepherd’s purse just like any other greens and use them as a side, or add them to soups and stews.
Medicinal Uses
Like many plants, shepherd’s purse isn’t just a good food source; it’s also a useful addition to your medicine cabinet.
In fact, it’s been used in both western and eastern medicine for centuries and is still popular among herbalists. Traditionally, shepherd’s purse has had several uses:
- It may help relieve diarrhea.
- Relief of cystitis symptoms.
- Calming stomach disorders.
- Treating sore throats.
- An effective laxative.
- Remedy for urinary tract infections.
These are all useful properties, but they’re all just extra benefits on top of what shepherd’s purse is really good at – stopping bleeding.
This plant can be used to help heal wounds, stop bleeding from minor cuts, or treat menstrual bleeding and internal hemorrhaging. Scientists think this is because it contains a protein that mimics oxytocin, which stimulates the contraction of blood vessels.
To treat internal bleeding, shepherd’s purse can be taken in several ways. Here are the ones you can make at home:
Shepherd’s Purse Tincture
Collect and chop enough stalks and leaves to loosely fill a small mason jar. Cover the plant with alcohol – you can use vodka, Everclear or pharma grade vegetable glycerine. Then cap the jar and leave it in a warm place, out of direct sunlight, for four to six weeks. Finally, strain out the liquid and bottle it for future use.
This tincture can be taken internally – mix 20-30 drops into a glass of water twice a day. It can also be used to treat nosebleeds by dipping a cotton ball in it and inserting into the nostril.
Shepherd’s Purse Tea
Collect shepherd’s purse leaves, tie them in bunches and hang them up to dry. Once they’re dry, chop them roughly in a blender (a couple of seconds will do it) and store in an airtight container. Make the tea by infusing 1-2 teaspoons of the herb in hot water for ten to fifteen minutes. This can be drunk three to four times a day. If fresh plants are available they can also be chopped and used to make tea.
To treat external bleeding from small cuts and scrapes you can dip a cotton ball in the tincture and apply that directly to the wound.
In an emergency you can also put leaves directly on the wound; soldiers used shepherd’s purse this way in the First World War when supplies of other anti-bleeding drugs ran out.
Shepherd’s purse is a plant every prepper should be able to recognize and use. It’s both a nutritious food source and a valuable medicine.
Look for it growing wild in your area, and you could even consider growing it yourself – if you have a spare patch of moist soil turn it over well, collect or buy some shepherd’s purse seeds and create your own supply. In an emergency, you’ll be glad to have a guaranteed source of this useful plant.
You may also like:
Black Seed; The Remedy For Everything But Death
The 10 Medicinal Plants You Need to Have In Your Backyard in a Crisis (Video)
How To Make Fire Cider The Ultimate Natural Remedy To “Burn” Your Cold Away
11 Things Native Americans Carried With Them To Survive In The Wild
Remember that a weed is what one person thinks it is. If it is unwanted it is a weed, such as a flower in your vegetable garden, if you do not want flowers in your garden, it is a weed and vice versa. A weed is something that is not wanted in a certain area. If you have a garden full of dandelion, Burdick that you are growing, they are not weeds.
I wish I can get this through my son-in-law’s thick head!
I wish I could get this through m son-in-law’s thick head
Neil and Plane: Hindsight is a great teacher, if you survive the lesson. Right now, Arizona has a two-week wait on guns because there’;s so much demand, mostly Kali-fornians coming here to buy. When BO was in office, one son-in-law, a Sunni, made my stepdaughter moved back to Pennsylvania with the kids. She didn’t want to leave New York, but with so many unvetted Muslims coming in, he was afraid of more shootings and bombings. When he comes home on the weekends, he brings cases of ghee, fruit, legumes, and so on for her to store. If middle class Muslims and the wealthy people in Manhattan are prepping, a smart person will do the same. And, from Kalifornians, you can buy Gucci bugout bags on Rodeo Drive, dry rice and caviar canned in cut crystal canning jars. niio
Red: If Kalifornicans are buying guns in Arizona, they are in violation of federal law and so is the seller. I doubt that any gun shop that wants to retain its imprimatur from the ATF would knowingly sell to a Kalifornican. Under federal law a buyer may purchase a rifle or shotgun in an immediately adjacent state provided that purchaser and the seller comply with the rules for said purchase in the purchaser’s home state. That means the Arizona gun seller would have to send the information on the purchaser to the Kallyforniya Department of Justice (wow, talk about calling a pig a cow) and wait for clearance from the DOJ authorizing the transaction. The purchaser would also have to have a valid training certificate in order to complete the purchase. I can just see the gun department in Cabela’s in Phoenix jumping through those hoops in order to make a sale when there are five Arizonians waiting in line behind that buyer who can buy the gun and walk out after a federal records check.
Purchasing a handgun in any state other than the state of one’s domicile is a federal felony and unless it is the feds running the scam themselves, is vigorously prosecuted, especially if it is the violator’s first offense.
Are there any seed available for this plant? Hunting for it is one thing, but being able to purposely plant it might be a better idea.
ebay has a lot listed. niio
A simple search, “Shepherd’s purse seeds” revealed four different vendors besides everyone’s corner general store, Amazon.com.
Yes, you can get seeds from several online shops. My favorite is Strictly Medicinal Seeds. They seem to have some of the best prices and free shipping if your order is large enough.
Google it
Etsy is a good source for seeds
You must have an awesome lawn if you don’t have any of these.
Medicinal Uses indicates “helps relieve diarrhea” and “an effective laxative.” Does it need a doctor’s prescription?
That’s one of the reasons why I don’t put a lot of faith in magical plants. First of all, unless one has spent considerable time studying the various plants, it is hard for the casual user to really be able to identify a particular plant. For instance, this plant looks a lot like three other common yard plants. The only one I feel totally competent in identifying is dandelion but only when it has it’s yellow flower.
Secondly, too many cures are attributed to some plants. For instance in this case “helps relieve diarrhea” and “an effective laxative.” Those are two biologically opposed functions. I might believe one function or the other but I just can’t buy into one plant performing two diametrically opposed actions. Of course, as in all things, you are totally free to reject Ken’s observation and my observation about this magical plant. As I usually post about any “cure” the placebo effect is 30%.
Claiming that ‘Helping to relieve diarrhea’ and ‘effective laxative’ are “two biologically opposed functions” is an extremely one-dimensional concept
There are many herbs, AND MEDICATIONS that can have two seemly opposite effects, depending on quantity consumed and your body’s chemistry.
For example, SMALL doses of fiber DO help with diarrhea… conversely, you know what too much fiber does.
Kratom is another interesting “dual function” herb. At low doses it is energizing, whereas it can be sedating at high doses. This is also dependent on the cultivar and body chemistry.
Finally, lets look at two PRESCRIPTION medications that have ‘opposite’ functions: Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants and Ritalin .
1. SSRI antidepressants can be VERY effective for some people, yet they cause suicidal ideations in others.
2. Ritalin is an AMPHETAMINE (like speed and meth), yet it’s used to treat ADD and ADHD!
Yeah and look at how many young people have committed mass murders while on drugs in the Ritalin family.
Yes, I know that certain members of the physician trade have decried linking of murderous tendencies to those psychotropic drugs, but unfortunately, to my knowledge, the numbers don’t lie. A very large percentage of mass murders are at the time of or just recently prior to their heinous actions have been taking various psychotropic drugs including Ritalin.
We had a member in the gun club I belong to who was using oxycodone while running one of the club functions. I thought that was a real liability for the club and mentioned it to the president of the club who happened to be a practicing dentist. His reply was, “Oh, it’s okay. I have lots of patients using it and they become acclimated to it and can handle it.”
Yeah, that was until he crashed into a local squad car and got busted for driving under the influence. Nothing makes cops more suspicious about whether you are under the influence or not than running into their squad car while they are parked.
I can’t comment about Kratom but celery is not my first choice for the trots, nor is bran flakes.
This list had an article about black seeds that claimed they cured everything from adenoids to xenophobia.
Various other plants have had equally outrageous claims of their curative powers.
Such claims alway remind me of the claims put forth during the late 19th century for various doctor’s elixirs and potions. I am reading a book right now called The Laws of Medicine and in one of his chapters he touches on the feel good drugs of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yes, they made you feel good because they contained alcohol, laudanum, heroin, cocaine and other feel good herbal products.
Coke originally contained cocaine. That’s why it was called “Coca Cola” because it was made from the cocoa plant and contained coke. Yes, it made the “Pause That Refreshes” You certainly felt refreshed after swigging down a health jolt of good old cocaine. AND THE BEST PART for the makers, it was habit forming. Not for everybody, just those unfortunate souls who are susceptible to addictive substances.
But, as I said, you are certainly free to form your own opinions and, the placebo effect is still 30%.
Your statement is EXTREMELY ONE-DIMENSIONAL. There are many natural and man-made medications that can have two seemingly opposite effects (depending on quantity consumed and body chemistry).
Fiber is used to treat diarrhea, and for a laxative effect.
Ritalin is an amphetamine, but it’s prescribed to treat ADD and ADHD
SSRI antidepressants can be very effective for some people, while causing suicidal ideations in others
Yeah, you already mentioned all that.
Plants, plant compounds, foods, medications have one thing in common…they respond differently in each person. There many studies conducted now and in the past that has allowed the pharmaceutical and supplement industries to make products that either use amounts of plants and plant compounds or they attempt to synthesize what nature provides.
You need not only to learn how to identify, process, store and use plants/herbs/foods/etc. you have to see what fits you and how it affects others. Nothing works on everyone. Placebo effect is great for you to sit on as a foundation for ‘nature things don’t work’ so I’m sure you will appreciate that the vaccinations you probably use have never had a blind in their studies, no placebo. So if you trust vaccinations, medications, and synthetics for relief of symptoms, having the same deference for natural remedies should be no problem for you.
It really comes down to individuals learning to empower themselves with helpful knowledge and using the same scientific method and theory testing for themselves. I have had massive positive results from using many ‘weeds’, clean foods and essential oils to manage everything from pain to mental states and if you are as patient with natural solutions as you are with doctors prescribing you hundreds of medications to see what works on you, then you can manage your own health without side-effects, addictions or adverse reactions from poorly tested synthetics.
I mean really any doc will tell you that the foundation of any remedy to illness and disease comes from nutrition and supplementation and all of that grows from the earth. The Mayo Clinic, The University of Mississippi as well as other Collegiate sources in the US and many more sources in Europe can already back up findings with studies that were not paid for by corporate giants.
One plant compound can have hundreds of results in the human body as well as pets, you just have to learn how to use them and get them from a clean source.
chuck: it regulates, so it works both ways. But, diarrhea? Never try to regulate till you’re pretty sure the parasite is dead or under control. a pinch of tobacco is a quick fix. If I can avoid the Toltec Two-Step in Mexico, it should work on anything 🙂 niio
To Sh.. or not to Sh.. is two dimensional. You’re a prepper. Will you need extra rolls of dry toilet paper or not? Or did I miss the article on corn cobs?
Ken, me too. Most folks have no clue how-to with redneck toilet paper. We kept a box in the outhouse and on occasion in summer, tourists would stop and ask to use the bathroom. That was the outhouse. Most would come out all pale and shaky and ask how the hell can we stand those corncobs? They cut like a knife. Ah, well, country folk are pretty tough, ya know! 🙂 For those who don’t know, work the little knives out by rubbing hard. Apply as needed. Old timers who grew up with corncobs disliked toilet paper because it’s not as food. niio
Excellent, I have this growing all over the place here in North Central Arizona. Especially with all of the rain that we have had of late. It’s literally everywhere around town.
Not here. Too close to Tucson, maybe, and all that methane coming from the liberal anti-gun who are now gun hoarders 🙂 We get rockets and filaria all winter. Collards are in bloom, but the flower buds are called broccoli raab. Cook and drain well.
When one thinks about the multitude of plants that have benefits to mankind, it remains absolutely incomprehensible that any right minded person could entertain the idea that all this is a result of some kind of cosmic accident which self-created over millions of years. Ha! …Truly, GOD IS!
I saw some Shepherd’s Purse down in my wildflower patch the other day. A piece of land you don’t touch is a great resource if times of great need come. Dandelion, docks, milkweed, Queen Ann’s Lace, prickly pear, yellow nutsedge, Echinacea, mesquite, mustard. I think a lot of plants got their healing reputation when the world was divided between Lords and peasants. The peasants had to survive winter eating moldy barley and spoiled pork, a Miracle at the end of winter was the emergence of early greens like Shepherd’s Purse, people sickened by a starvation diet suddenly had free access to fresh plants loaded with vitamins and minerals.
Mike: Yes, but green onions have always been preferred as spring blood cleanser. Carrots were planted in herbal gardens long before farmers knew them. A lot of what we eat today was first medicine, then food.Most gourmet grub started out in a peasant’s kitchen. Food is medicine. Eat plenty of beef and you can’t go wrong. Reminds me, got to get the chilis started ASAP, and the tomatoes. Y’all can never eat enough fruit! niio
Mike: While I have not made a study of the dietary habits of hibernating bears, it is my understanding that high on their list of edibles upon emerging in the springtime from winter hibernation is greens of all kinds to purge themselves of whatever they have been storing over the winter months. That would follow along with peasants eating field greens in the springtime.
From the article: “This plant can be used to help heal wounds, stop bleeding from minor cuts, or treat menstrual bleeding and internal hemorrhaging. Scientists think this is because it contains a protein that mimics oxytocin, which stimulates the contraction of blood vessels.”
While Wikipedia is certain not to be treated as the final word on almost any topic as it has been found to have quite a few errors, it is at least as authoritative as the author’s article on the benefits of shepherds purse.
This from Wikipedia:
“Oxytocin, sold under the brand name Pitocin among others, is a medication made from the peptide oxytocin. As a medication, it is used to cause contraction of the uterus to start labor, increase the speed of labor, and to stop bleeding following delivery. For this purpose, it is given by injection either into a muscle or into a vein.
The use of oxytocin as a medication can result in excessive contraction of the uterus that can risk the health of the baby. Common side effects in the mother include nausea and a slow heart rate. Serious side effects include rupture of the uterus and with excessive dose, water intoxication. Allergic reactions including anaphylaxis may also occur.
Side effects
Oxytocin is relatively safe when used at recommended doses, and side effects are uncommon.These maternal events have been reported: Subarachnoid hemorrhage – Increased blood pressure – Cardiac arrhythmia including increased or decreased heart rate, and premature ventricular contraction – Impaired uterine blood flow – Pelvic hematoma – Afibrinogenemia – Anaphylaxis – Nausea and vomiting – Increased fetal blood flow.
Excessive dosage or long-term administration (over a period of 24 hours or longer) has been known to result in tetanic uterine contractions, uterine rupture, postpartum hemorrhage, and water intoxication, sometimes fatal.
Oxytocin was added to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices’s list of High Alert Medications in Acute Care Settings in 2012 The list includes medications that have a high risk for harm if administered incorrectly.
During pregnancy, increased uterine motility has led to decreased heart rate, cardiac arrhythmia, seizures, brain damage, and death in the fetus or neonate.
Certain learning and memory functions are impaired by centrally administered oxytocin. Also, systemic oxytocin administration can impair memory retrieval in certain aversive memory tasks.
However, oxytocin does seem to facilitate learning and memory specifically for social information. Healthy males administered intranasal oxytocin show improved memory for human faces, in particular happy faces.”
LCC,
From healthline.com:
“An induction with Pitocin means your doctor or midwife will induce your labor using a medicine called Pitocin, which is a synthetic version of oxytocin. Oxytocin is the hormone that your body naturally produces to induce contractions, as well as serving as the famous “love” hormone.”
Now, I am not one to turn my nose up at “store bought” medicines due to convenience, but I do question why a synthetic copy is better than something that is naturally produced. Sometimes, the body needs that little extra ummph to heal itself. Taking the natural solution introduces the chemical at a MUCH lower dosage than what a doctor/quack would prescribe. Our younger generation has lost all concept of natural and opt for the official FDA approved medications. To get around patent restrictions, I would assume that along with oxytocin, other compounds are included in Pitocin and other drugs.
I will do natural unless it is not a viable option. My body may be old and worn out, but that doesn’t mean I am going to repair one problem while causing numerous others because of undesired side effects.
Prepper: I am certainly not a midwife nor an ob/gyn, but I do know that sometimes women are in labor longer than their bodies can stand. It is common knowledge that in earlier centuries, childbirth was one of the greatest dangers for women. Sometimes a woman is long past her nominal due date and that presents dangers to the woman and the child. Sometimes our bodies just don’t kick out enough of what we manufacture naturally and need a little booster, so the doctor administers a drug.
Now the big difference between a manufactured drug and a “natural” drug is controlled dosage. A homemade brew of any natural product can vary from batch to batch. Drugs made in a laboratory with the ready availability to test the strength of each batch means that the doctor administering the drug knows from experience just how much he can administer or should administer to obtain the looked-for result.
The home made batch? Not so much. How old were the leaves when picked? How long was it before they hit the pot. How long were they boiled? Was the ambient temperature the same with this batch as the last batch so that they cooled to “room temperature” in the same time period? Was room temperature even close with this batch to what room temperature was with the last batch?
You see, with home made products, even with years of experience, it is hard to control all those variables so that each batch is uniformly the same as the last batch.
Now, in an end of the world situation, even a poorly made batch may be sufficient to effect the desired result. It is better than doing nothing. “A poor plan vigorously executed is better than no plan at all.” That’s not exactly the quote but it contains the gist of it. That said, if I have my choice, I would prefer a laboratory or even a chemical plant — Stauffers West End chemical plant in Trona, CA — reasonably precise mixture to a home brew whipped up in my kitchen.
I was also trying to point out that I don’t see a connection between inducing labor and shrinking the size of the uterus and stopping blood flow. Perhaps oxytocin contains alum which facilitates coagulation. That is what the styptic pencil you apply to your razor nicks contains. I don’t know what it contains that inhibits bleeding but from the Wiki article and the use to which oxytocin is put, it would seem that blood coagulation of shepard’s purse either is not related to oxytocin or it contains some other substance if it truly does inhibit bleeding.
People used to treat syphilis with mercury. It made the syphilitic lesions disappear so that it looked like it cured syphilis but it didn’t cure the underlying disease entity and it also caused problems of its own. It was the standard cure for syphilis for almost a century. That was a tried and true cure for the syph. So someone could write a treatise on how mercury was the cure for syphilis and if someone suggested that perhaps it wasn’t the be all, end all that the treatise suggested, there certainly would be a multitude who would decry the suggestion.
I am suggesting once again as I have in the past, analyze what you are reading. Does it make sense? Who is the author? What are the author’s credentials for positing the information contained in the article? In my view an article with no attendant credentials really should be subjected to the most minute scrutiny for veracity and validity. And if there are lapses in the article they should be pointed out for the unwary.
And I don’t get the need people feel to use something to stop the bleeding from minor wounds. I’ve cut myself thousands of times, my old man arms are a patchwork of white scars from working outdoors all my life. Let a cut bleed awhile, put a bandaid on it. A bigger cut might take a gauze pad and a bit of pressure, but the bleeding will stop quickly. Arterial bleeding needs a pressure dressing and a tourniquet and prompt professional intervention.
I have had the luck of perfect health and have only ever gone to a Western style Doc to get sewed up and have fractures reduced. The Covid-19 deal is a perfect example of what a bunch of idiots run our American medical system, ordering supplies on a just in time basis like a GM plant instead of preparing for something so obviously inevitable as a pandemic.
But, history has a lot to say about the efficacy of herbal healing, mainly that it doesn’t do a lot of good compared to scientific medicine. The antibiotics were hailed as miracle drugs when 1st introduced because they actually work.
But, I have my own miracle herb, 1 capsule of standardized Echinacea every 4th day for the last 20 years has given me perfect immunity from flu and colds (and don’t forget, a lot of colds are caused by Corona viruses).
Your “consider the source” is an important reminder. We encounter an awful lot of info good, bad and indifferent. I would just like to add that “natural” does not make something automatically good. Arsenic, nicotine and hundreds of of other poisons are natural. Also, there are harmful look- alikes for almost every beneficial plants so it takes a lot of self-education to know what is useful and how to use it.
Gov: Agree, but not about nicotine. while smoking anything is bad, tobacco isn’t. Only 3 nations claim it’s the devil’s weed, UK, US, and the PRI in Mexico. Studies originated in Nazi Germany because Hitler claimed it causes cancer. If tobacco were harmful, no totalitarian nation would allow it, yet most encourage smoking. BTW, Labour Party, the dems, and the PRI all fell to nazism either before or after WWII. Germany is now stating smokers are far lower in corona than non-smokers. But, they also will tell you tests show mic kills any corona virus. niio
Appreciate the correction. It is fascinating how a substance can both poison or cure.
I can’t believe you forgot one of shepherds purse’s most common folk names…poor man’s pepper! Dried seeds are ground and used as a pepper substitute, or added whole to stews, pickles, etc.
Same use for the seeds of peppergrass, Lepidium ruderale, and the seeds of toothache tree, Xanthoxylum clavi-herculis. Toothache tree seeds are the same as Szechuan peppercorns.
OK. So what IS its “HIDDEN SECRET”?
Granted it does have properties that are wonderful, but decidedly NOT hidden. So…bad title.