Plant Family: Cruciferae

Common name: Cocowort, Hirtentaeschel, Lady's Purse, Mother's Heart, Pickpurse, Pickpocket, Rattle Pouches, St. James Weed

Origin: Western Asia

History: In John Josselyn's Herbal it is one of the plants named as unknown to the New World until the Pilgrim Fathers settled there.

Tradition: The Native American Indians used it

• as a vegetable food like cabbage
• to stop internal bleeding

Plant Constituents

Contains:

• Bursine, an alkaloid
• Bursinic Acid
• fixed oil
• soft resin
• tannate
• volatile oil, similar to Oil of Mustard

Usage

Medicinal Parts Used: Whole Plant

Shepherd's Purse is used for:

Cardiovascular Conditions

• high or low blood pressure
• normalizies circulation, as Shepherd's Purse is a circulation equalizing herb
• regulates heart action

Female Conditions

• excessive menstrual flow
• facilitates childbirth
• menopause
• painful menstruation, combined with Rue and Rosemary
• promotes uterine contraction during childbirth
• regulates menstruation during puberty
• stops post natal bleeding
• uterine cramp

Externally:

• nursing mothers with swollen breasts (compress)

Blood Conditions

• bleeding from the kidneys, combined with Horsetail
• bleeding from the lungs
• bleeding hemorrhoids
• hematuria
• intestinal bleeding
• nosebleeds
• passive hemorrhages from mucous membranes
• stomach hemorrhage
• uterine bleeding
• wounds which will not stop bleeding

Gastrointestinal Conditions

• chronic diarrhea
• colic
• dysentery
• promotes bowel movements through intestinal contraction

Genitourinary Tract Conditions

• abscesses of the bladder
• bedwetting in children
• catarrhal conditions of the bladder and ureters
• increases the flow of urine
• irritation of the urinary tract caused by uric acid or insoluble phosphates or carbonates
• kidney complaints
• ulcerated conditions of the bladder
• urine with white mucous discharge

Externally Shepherd's Purse is used for:

• bruises
• external muscular disorders
• limb or muscular atrophy
• rheumatic joints
• strains

Other Uses:

• bird and chicken feed

Action:

• anti-hemorrhagic [an agent to stop hemorrhages]
• antiscorbutic [a source of Vitamin C for curing or preventing scurvy]
• astringent [a binding agent that contracts organic tissue, reducing secretions or discharges of mucous and fluid from the body]
• coagulant [an agent that induces clotting in a liquid, as in blood]
• diuretic [an agent that increases the volume and flow of urine which cleanses the urinary system]
• hemostatic [an agent that controls bleeding]
• stimulant [an agent that excites or quickens the functional activity of the tissues giving more energy]
• styptic [an agent that contracts tissues; astringent; specifically, a hemostatic agent that stops bleeding by contracting the blood vessels]
• vasoconstrictor [an agent that narrows the blood vessels, thus raising blood pressure]

Precautions

Caution: Shepherd's Purse

• should not be taken by someone with a history of blood clots