Shepherd's purse

Description: Herbs (2-) 10-50(-70) cm tall, sparsely to densely pubescent with sessile, 3-5-rayed stellate trichomes often mixed near base of plant with much longer simple trichomes. Stems erect , simple or branched. Basal leaves rosulate; petiole 0.5-4(-6) cm; leaf blade oblong or oblanceolate , (0.5-) 1.5-10(-15) × 0.2-2.5(-5) cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin pinnatisect , pinnatifid , runcinate, lyrate, dentate , repand , or entire, apex acute or acuminate. Cauline leaves sessile, sagittate , amplexicaul , or rarely auriculate , narrowly oblong, lanceolate, or linear , 1-5.5 (-8) cm × 1-15(-20) mm, margin entire or dentate. Fruiting pedicels (0.3-) 0.5-1.5(-2) cm, divaricate , usually straight, slender, glabrous . Sepals green or reddish, oblong, 1.5-2 × 0.7-1 mm, margin membranous. Petals white, rarely pinkish or yellowish, obovate , (1.5-) 2-4(-5) × 1-1.5 mm. Filaments white, 1-2 mm; anthers ovate , to 0.5 mm. Fruit (3-) 4-9(-10) × (2-) 3-7(-9) mm, flat, base cuneate, apex emarginate or truncate ; valves with subparallel lateral veins, glabrous; style 0.2-0.7 mm. Seeds brown, oblong, 0.9-1.1 × 0.4-0.6 mm. Habitat: Roadsides, gardens, fields , waste areas, mountain slopes. Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,936 meters (0 to 16,194 feet) Notes: Shepherd's Purse is so called from the resemblance of the flat seed-pouches of the plant to an old-fashioned common leather purse. It is similarly called in France Bourse de pasteur, and in Germany Hirtentasche. The Irish name of 'Clappedepouch' was given in allusion to the begging of lepers, who stood at cross-roads with a bell or clapper, receiving their alms in a cup at the end of a long pole. It is a common weed of the Cruciferous order, said to be found all over the world and flourishing nearly the whole year round. A native of Europe, the plant has accompanied Europeans in all their migrations and established itself wherever they have settled to till the soil. In John Josselyn's Herbal it is one of the plants named as unknown to the New World before the Pilgrim Fathers settled there.

The seeds do have a distinct peppery taste. As kids we would collect the seeds to sprinkle in the concoctions we mixed up in old tin cans.

...this heart-shaped structures are seed pods. I used to be so intrigued by them as a child.