Capsella (plant) explained

Capsella is a genus of herbaceous annual and biennial plants in the family Brassicaceae.^[1] 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.^[2], Kew's Plants of the World Online list eight species.

Capsella rubella is a self-fertilizing species that became self-compatible 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. Its outcrossing progenitor was Capsella grandiflora. In general, the shift from outcrossing to self-fertilization is among the most common transitions in flowering plants. Capsella rubella is studied as a model for understanding the evolution of self-fertilization.^{[3] [4]}

The name is said to derive from Latin capsa, a box or case, alluding to fruit resembling a medieval wallet or purse;^[5] the suffix -ella denotes "lesser".^[6]

Species

Species include:

• Capsella bursa-pastoris
• Capsella gracilis (sterile hybrid)
• Capsella grandiflora
• Capsella lycia
• Capsella mexicana
• Capsella orientalis
• Capsella puberula
• Capsella rubella
• Capsella tasmanica

Notes and References

1. Web site: 19. Capsella Medikus . Flora of China .
2. 10.3732/ajb.93.11.1714 . Intrageneric phylogeny of Capsella (Brassicaceae) and the origin of the tetraploid C. bursa-pastoris based on chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences . 2006 . Slotte, T. . American Journal of Botany . 93 . 1714–1724 . Ceplitis . A. . Neuffer . B. . Hurka . H. . Lascoux . M. . 11 . 21642116. free .
3. Brandvain Y, Slotte T, Hazzouri KM, Wright SI, Coop G . Genomic identification of founding haplotypes reveals the history of the selfing species Capsella rubella . PLOS Genet. . 9 . 9 . e1003754 . 2013 . 24068948 . 3772084 . 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003754 . 1307.4118 . free .
4. Slotte T, Hazzouri KM, Ågren JA, Koenig D, Maumus F, Guo YL, Steige K, Platts AE, Escobar JS, Newman LK, Wang W, Mandáková T, Vello E, Smith LM, Henz SR, Steffen J, Takuno S, Brandvain Y, Coop G, Andolfatto P, Hu TT, Blanchette M, Clark RM, Quesneville H, Nordborg M, Gaut BS, Lysak MA, Jenkins J, Grimwood J, Chapman J, Prochnik S, Shu S, Rokhsar D, Schmutz J, Weigel D, Wright SI . The Capsella rubella genome and the genomic consequences of rapid mating system evolution . Nat. Genet. . 45 . 7 . 831–5 . July 2013 . 23749190 . 10.1038/ng.2669 . free .
5. Web site: Capsella . Flora of North America. efloras.org . 16 June 2020.
6. Book: Gledhill . D. . The names of plants . 1985 . Cambridge University Press . 0521305497 . 82.