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Capsella

File:A_Field_of_Shepherd’s-purse.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ157786· pop 43· linked from 75 articles

genus of plants

OverviewAI-generated

Capsella is a taxon at the genus rank within the family Brassicaceae. It is commonly known as capsella, shepherd's-purse, Quşəppəyi, Көтөүсе муҡсаһы, and Стрэлкі. The genus produces fruit of the silique type. According to Plants of the World, it is native to regions including Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Amur, Austria, Baleares, the Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Buryatiya.

A separate genus named Capsella, described by J. E. Gray in 1851, belongs to the family Donacidae within the class Bivalvia and phylum Mollusca. This marine organism is classified as a junior subjective synonym.

Records for the plant genus are held by institutions such as DAV, CAS, ANSP, MICH, and IBUNAM, with collections from the United States, China, Russia, Mexico, and Switzerland. The name appears in 421 PubMed entries and 380 iDigBio records.

Synthesized by Vinony from 34 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, iNaturalist, PubMed, Plants of the World, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

shepherd's-purse

Genus

  1. PhylumMollusca
  2. ClassBivalvia
  3. OrderCardiida
  4. FamilyDonacidae
Habitatmarine
Native toAfghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Amur, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Buryatiya
Observations98,233

via · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records
380
With media
290
Family
Brassicaceae
Collections
DAV, CAS, ANSP, MICH, IBUNAM, NCSC
Recorded in
United States, China, Russia, Mexico, Switzerland, Algeria, Bolivia, Australia

~1 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Capsella is a genus of herbaceous annual and biennial plants in the family Brassicaceae. It is a close relative of Arabidopsis, Neslia, and Halimolobos.

Some authors circumscribe Capsella to contain only three species: Capsella bursa-pastoris, Capsella rubella and Capsella grandiflora. As of 2025, Kew's Plants of the World Online list eight species.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Capsella” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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