Family |
Brassicaceae
Capsella bursa-pastoris
(L.) Medik.
Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik.
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. XLIX nº 3; 1983)
Life-form & habit: Annual herb, often pluricaulous, with erect or ascending stems, glabrous or slightly hairy at the base, 10–40 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves in a rosette, lanceolate, entire or lyrate-pinnatifid (sometimes both forms on the same plant); cauline leaves smaller, entire.
Inflorescence & flowers: Multiflore racemes, very elongated in fruit. Flowers small (~3 mm); sepals obtuse, yellowish or purplish, slightly shorter than the white petals.
Fruit: Silicules spreading or ascending, 10–12 mm long, longer than their pedicels; obtriangular with straight or slightly convex lateral margins and a broad obcordate apex. Short style topped with a capitate stigma; each locule contains several seeds.
Phenology: Flowers from December to July–August.
Habitat & elevation: Found in all cultivated or semi-cultivated areas, except arid desert oases.
Lebanese distribution: Ct. Beirut, Tripoli; Met. Ta'naïl; widespread but no precise local list due to extensive distribution.
Syrian distribution: Damascus, Et-Tell, Homs, Hama, northeast of Homs.
Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Amur, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, Central European Russia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, East Himalaya, Egypt, Finland, France, Føroyar, Germany, Greece, Gulf States, Hungary, Iceland, India, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Italy, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kriti, Krym, Kuril Is., Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Qinghai, Romania, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Türkey, Türkey-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Yemen. (KEW)
Introduced into: Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arizona, Arkansas, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, British Columbia, Burundi, California, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Costa Rica, Crozet Is., Cuba, Delaware, District of Columbia, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, Easter Is., Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Is., Florida, Free State, Galápagos, Georgia, Great Britain, Greenland, Guatemala, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, Haiti, Honduras, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Jawa, Kansas, Kentucky, Kenya, Kerguelen, KwaZulu-Natal, Labrador, Lesotho, Louisiana, Madeira, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mauritius, Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Central, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, Newfoundland, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ogasawara-shoto, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Peru, Philippines, Queensland, Québec, Rhode I., Rwanda, Réunion, Saskatchewan, Socotra, South Australia, South Carolina, South Dakota, South Georgia, Sri Lanka, St.Helena, Sudan-South Sudan, Svalbard, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Uganda, Uruguay, Utah, Vermont, Victoria, Vietnam, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Western Australia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon, Zimbabwe. (KEW)