Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Capsella bursa-pastoris
Common name
Shepherd's Purse
Family
Brassicaceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, grassy areas, and disturbed sites. Widespread. Common in the Sydney area.
Notes
Introduced annual herb to 0.5 m tall. Stems bristly with stellate hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see), or almost hairless. Leaves mostly in a basal rosette, 3-15 cm long, almost hairless to hairy or bristly, margins deeply lobed to toothed, or entire. The few stem leaves alternating up the stems, smaller, with basal lobes, usually stem clasping, margins entire or toothed. Flowers white, with 4 petals each to 2-3 mm long, in a raceme up the stem that lengthens so the seeds are well spaced. Flowers mainly Winter to Spring.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Capsella~bursa-pastoris (accessed 7 January, 2021)
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