Flora of New Zealand Series

shepherd's purse

Annual herb. Stem erect, little- to much-branched above, (2)-15-30-(80) cm tall. Lvs and stems with spreading simple hairs and sparse to dense appressed stellate hairs. Lvs not lobed to runcinate-pinnatifid, very variable in shape, shallowly dentate or rarely subentire; lower lvs petiolate, (0.4)-5-15 × (0.2)-2-5 cm; upper lvs with sagittate or amplexicaul lobes at base, smaller, becoming entire. Racemes (2)-5-20-(45) cm long; pedicels erecto-patent at flowering, spreading at fruiting. Sepals glabrous or sparsely hairy, green or pinkish, 1-1.5 × 0.6-0.8 mm. Petals white, 2-2.5 × 0.7-1 mm, sometimes reduced or 0. Silicle narrowly to broadly obtriangular, emarginate, 5-10 × 4-7 mm; valves sharply keeled, reticulately veined, greenish brown; style c. 0.5 mm long. Seeds pale brown, c. 1 × 0.5 mm.

N.; S.; St.; K., Ch., A., C.

Europe 1864

Common weed of cultivated and waste land throughout.