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Shepherd's Purse Capsella bursa-pastoris

Benefits | Preparation | Medicinal Uses | Side Effects | Plant | Folklore | Shepherd's Purse Remedies
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Robert H. Mohlenbrock @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
Robert H. Mohlenbrock @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
Common Names
Shepherd's Purse , Pickpurse, Casewort
Botanical Name
Capsella bursa-pastoris
Family
BRASSICACEAE or CRUCIFERAE Cabbage Family
Shepherd's Purse Medicinal Properties & Benefits
Common Uses: Abrasions/Cuts * Bladder Infection (UTI) Cystitis * Childbirth * Heart Tonics/Cordials * Menorrhagia *
Properties: Antiscorbutic* Diuretic* Styptic* Astringent* Febrifuge*
Parts Used: whole herb
Constituents:Choline, acetylcholine and tyramine, saponins, mustard oil, flavonoids

Shepherd's purse is one of the important herbs to stop bleeding an effect due to the tyramine and other amines it contains. This property leads to its use is a number of condidtions such as heavy menstrual bleeding, nosebleeds, and as a post-partum herb. The herb is both a vasodilator, and also hastens coagulation and constrict blood vessels.

Shepherd's purse contains a protein that acts in the same way in the body as the hormone oxytocin, constricting the smooth muscles that support and surround blood vessels, especially those in the uterus. Other chemicals in the herb may accelerate clotting. Still other compounds in the herb help the uterus contact, explaining the long-time use of the herb to help the womb return to normal size after childbirth. Mountain Rose Herbs (2008-07-09)

Side Effects:
Not recommended during pregnancy, the herb can cause uterine contractions. Not for those with liver or kidney disease.
How to Use: Shepherd's Purse
Preparation Methods :

remedyRemedies using : Shepherd's Purse

Shepherd's Purse for :Childbirth/bleeding
Childbirth/bleeding High concentrations of tannin, tyramine, and other amines are what make it an excellent remedy for excessive bleeding after childbirth

Rosemary Gladstar, Herbal Healing for Women (1993)

Shepherd's Purse for :Diuretic, providing potassium
Diuretic, providing potassium Acts as a mild diuretic, providing potassium to replace the potassium lost through increased urination.
Shepherd's Purse for :heavy menstrual bleeding
heavy menstrual bleeding Taken alone or combined with yarrow, it will arrest heavy menstrual bleeding
Shepherd's Purse for :Nosebleeds
Nosebleeds Good first aid herb for nosebleeds, wounds and cuts. Best if used fresh
Shepherd's Purse extract for :Improves blood flow to the heart
Improves blood flow to the heart Research confirms that an extract of the whole herb does hasten coagulation and constrict blood vessels. At the same time, it also allows coronary arteries to expand and improves blood flow to the heart.

James Duke, The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook (2000)


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referencesShepherd's Purse Medicinal Uses & Benefits
Abrasions/Cuts * Bladder Infection (UTI) Cystitis * Childbirth * Heart Tonics/Cordials * Menorrhagia *
Plant Description

<sup><a href=(Whole plant,1879,Millspaugh, Charles F.[99])">
(Whole plant,1879,Millspaugh, Charles F.[99])

  • Flowers: Small, white, in a long, loose raceme, followed by triangular and notched (somewhat heart-shaped) pods, the valves boat-shaped and keeled. Sepals and petals 4; stamens 6; 1 pistil.
  • Stem: 6 to 18 in. high, from a deep root.
  • Leaves: Forming a rosette at base, 2 to 5 in. long, more or less cut (pinnatifid), a few pointed, arrow-shaped leaves also scattered along stem and partly clasping it.
  • Flowering Season: Almost throughout the year.
  • Preferred Habitat: Fields, roadsides, waste places
  • Distribution: Over nearly all parts of the earth

From Europe this little low plant found its way, to become the commonest of our weeds, so completing its march around the globe. At a glance one knows it to be related to the alyssum and candytuft of our gardens, albeit a poor relation in spite of its vaunted purses—the tiny, heart-shaped seed-pods that so rapidly succeed the flowers. What is the secret of its successful march over the face of the earth? Like the equally triumphant chickweed, it is easily satisfied with unoccupied waste land, it avoids the fiercest competition for insect trade by prolonging its season of bloom far beyond that of any na­tive flower, for there is not a month in the year when one may not find it even in New England in sheltered places. Netje Blanchan. Wild Flowers worth Knowing (1917)

Traditional Chinese Medicine
tradional chinese medicine Shepherd's purse is used in traditional Chinese medicine formulas for blurred vision, and spots before the eyes.
Folklore, Myths and Legends
History and Traditions
historyShepherd's Purse is so called from the resemblance of the flat seed-pouches of the plant to an old-fashioned common leather purse. It is similarly called in France Bourse de pasteur, and in Germany Hirtentasche. The Irish name of Clappedepouch was given in allusion to the begging of lepers, who stood at cross-roads with a bell or clapper, receiving their alms in a cup at the end of a long pole. Grieve, Maude Modern Herbal (1931)
Astrology:
folkloreIt is under the dominion of Saturn, and of a cold, dry, and binding nature, like to him. It helps all fluxes of blood, either caused by inward or outward wounds; as also flux of the belly, and bloody flux, spitting blood, and bloody urine, stops the terms in women; being bound to the wrists of the hands, and the soles of the feet, it helps the yellow jaundice Nicholas Culpeper

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Herbal Spotlight

Cardiac, diuretic, astringent, tonic. Hawthorn is mainly used as a cardiac tonic in organic and functional heart troubles.

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