DESCRIPTIVE MANUAL 



151 



Fig. 85-A. Distribution of False Flax. 



Shepherd's Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris Moench.) 



Description. — An annual or winter annual I-IV2 ft. high; root 

 leaves clustered, nearly divided or merely toothed ; stem leaves ses- 

 sile ; flowers small, white, in fruit spreading ; pods much wider above 

 than below, many-seeded ; seeds light brown, elongated, with a promi- 

 nent ridge, mucilaginous when moistened with water; cotyledons 

 incumbent; trichomes stellate, roughened. 



Distribution. — Shepherd's purse is native to Europe and one of 

 the most common early spring flowers from the Atlantic to the Pa- 

 cific. Common everywhere in gardens and fields in the state. 



Extermination. — Clark and Fletcher state : "It has an enormous 

 power of propagation ; a single plant will ripen 50,000 seeds. Waste 

 places should be cleared as far as practicable and seeded to grass. 

 It does not give serious trouble on lands worked under a short rota- 

 tion, with clean cultivation of hoed crops. Sow clean grass and 

 clover seeds. ' ' 



