Shepherd's Purse.
Bursa pastoris.
The most common almost of all wild plants, over-running our garden-beds, and court-yards. The leaves spread upon the ground, and are long somewhat broad, and more or less indented at the edges, for in this there is great variation: the stalks are round, upright, and eight or ten inches high, they have few leaves on them. The flowers stand at the tops in little clusters, and they are small and white: below there is commonly a kind of spike of the seed-vessels: these are short, broad, and of the figure of a bag;, or pouch, and are divided a little at the end. The seeds are small and yellowish, and the roots white.
The juice of Shepherd's purse is cooling and astringent; it is good against purgings, with sharp and bloody stools; against the bleeding of the piles, and the overflowing of the menses.
