Shepherd's Purse

One year I had an interesting weed growing in my garden. I decided to see who it was. I allowed it to continue to grow and when it was 18 inches high, it flowered. I still didn't know who he was. Then it had seeds and I knew. Who could mistake the seed pods of Shepherd's Purse? Their leaves look like wild lettuce but the seed pods dangle along the branches and they are flat and heart-shaped. They are a member of the mustard family and are found in waste lands all over my state.

My thought was to find out what part of this plant was used medicinally and harvest just that part. I thought I would be harvesting the seed pods or maybe the roots, but I was surprised to find out the "herb" is used. This means that the whole plant is used. The stalk, leaves, and seeds.

Alma Hutchins, talks about this plant in her book, INDIAN HERBALOGY OF NORTH AMERICA. The first thing that I learned from her was that the American Indians used this plant for food. They ate the leaves raw or cooked and the seed pods were collected and roasted. Sometimes they added them to another meal, perhaps ground up acorns and made a type of bread.

Out of the 60 constituents that I found in this plant, some of them have the ability to stop bleeding by coagulating blood. Dr. Mowrey talked about it lowering blood pressure in his book THE SCIENTIFIC VALIDATION OF HERBAL MEDICINE. Dr. Mowrey suggested using the fresh or dried whole plant as a tea.

According to Mrs. Grieves in her books, A MODERN HERBAL, in "The Great War", when medicine ran out, a tea a poultice of Shepherd's Purse was used on the soldiers. They even made an ointment of it "especially for head wounds."

Ointments are made by heating vegetable oil (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and simmering it with the herb in it. After it has simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes, strain the herb out of the oil and return the oil to the pot. While still on low heat, add bees wax until a spoonful of this mixture can be tested in a cool place. (Refrigerate for 3 minutes.) The consistency will be just as it will be when it has cooled naturally. If it is too hard, add a little more oil. If it is too runny, add more wax.

Because of its ability to stop bleeding, it will check hemorrhoids. This can be done by putting the juice of Shepherd's Purse on cotton and inserting it or by making a little of the ointment with more wax and harden it into a suppository.

Dr. James Duke's database talks about all of its abilities and they surprised me. I would just like to mention a few of the things that this plant can do. In the Database I ran into its anticancer ability many times. I found cardio protection in there and anti-inflammatory along with antibacterial properties. Antioxident was there as was antidiabetic but one thing that really surprised me was pituitary-stimulant. I might in the future to go back into the database to find out what of the 60 properties had this ability.

In the folk medicine department I found that it had been used for stomach ulcers, kidney and bladder problems (especially when bleeding is involved), and lung problems such as tuberculosis, also as a tincture for typhus.

Our weeds are so valuable. Enjoy learning about them and making medicine with them.