Although Shepherd’s Purse is mostly used as a single herb, several formulas were found that contained it.  Although not a formula in the strictest sense, Block and most midwives give cold Shepherd’s purse tea or tincture with Cayenne (1/4 - ½ teaspoon of the powder in water, or 1-2 dropperfuls of the tincture) for bleeding or hemorrhaging.  She suggested doing this for slow bleeding and in addition, “. . . pack just the VAGINA with sanitary pads saturated with calendula tincture.”

 

Christopher found two anti bed-wetting formulas that contained Shepherd’s Purse.  “Mixed with agrimony, lady’s slipper, corn silk, oak bark and licorice root it is said to stop bed-wetting.  It can be mixed with yarrow and agrimony for the same purpose (Luc:Common:180).”  He also included for our use, a formula for “Bleeding (lungs, stomach or bowels)” which consisted of “1 part White oak (Quercus alba), etc.; 1 part Tormentil (Potentilla erecta); 1 part Shavegrass (Equisetum hyemale); 1 part Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris).  Preparation: Steep 1 ounce of the herbs in 1 pint of boiling-hot water.  Dosage: 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls each ½ hour as needed.”

 

“Shepherd’s Purse was said to be the principle herb in the blue ‘Electric Fluid’ used by Count Matthei to control haemorrhage.”  In the book, “The English Housewife”(c. 1615), authored by Gervase Markham, Barbara Griggs found a formula for dysentery or diarrhea: “To cure the worst bloody flux that may be, take a quart of red wine, and a spoonful of cumin seed boyl them together untill half  be consumed, then take knot-grass, and Shepherde-purse, and Plantane, and stamp them severall, and then strain them, and take of the juice of each . . . a good spoonful; and put them to the wine, and so seeth them again a little; then drink it lukewarm, half over night, and half the next morning.”

 

In Harris’ “Eat the Weeds”, is listed a salt substitute including Shepherd’s Purse.  “2.  To prepare a salt substitute, the cut herbs are powdered via a Molinex or similar coffee mill-even a meat grinder will do-and sifted through a sieve or through several layers of cheese cloth, thus removing the coarse stems and stubborn leaf portions.  The herbs: Wild Carrot leaves, Yellow Dock fruits, Goldenrod leaves, Lambsquarters fruits, Masterwort leaves, Nettle leaves, Peppergrass  leaves and fruits, Peppermint leaves, Sassafras leaves and bark, Shepherd’s Purse leaves and fruits, Spearmint leaves, Tansy leaves (young).  You may use whatever other herbs you find will powder well.”  He also lists optional ingredients that can be added.  The only caution that would be in order with this recipe, as far as this author’s knowledge goes, would be to use it prayerfully, sparingly or not at all during pregnancy, as Tansy, Shepherd’s Purse and possibly Sassafras are contra-indicated during pregnancy.  Some publications have even spoken against using too much Peppermint during pregnancy.  So, read, read, read, and pray!  One might want to omit those herbs which are dangerous during pregnancy from the above recipe, and make it minus those.

 

Weed includes Shepherd’s Purse as an ingredient in her Antihemorrhage Tincture #1 “1 part fresh Blue Cohosh roots (or 1/4 part dried roots), 1 part fresh Shepherd’s Purse herb (leaf, flowers, stalk, seed), 1 part fresh Motherwort leaves (and stalk), 100 proof Vodka or grain alcohol”

 

Two last recipes known to the author, but of unknown origin are used by midwives in the south central Idaho area for bleeding and hemorrhage.  Either one is made up when the midwife arrives ‘just in case’, and is ready later if needed: “For Bleeding: 2 Tbsp. spring water, 5 drops Willard Water, 5 drops Cayenne tincture, 3 drops Lobelia tincture, 10 drops Mistletoe tincture, 10 drops Shepherd’s Purse tincture.”  “Anti-Bleed (Connie’s favorite): 18 drops or 1/8 tsp. Willard Water, 1/3 C water (mineral water optional), 3 drops Lobelia tincture, 10 drops Mistletoe tincture, 10 drops Shepherd’s Purse tincture, 5 drops Cayenne tincture.”