Did you have a name for it growing up? Are you / were you aware of its spicy peppery taste (the little green “paddles”)? Is it used in any cuisines?
I remember it from childhood in Georgia. We’d pick them, then pull off the little round green things and pop them in our mouth. Hot and spicy. Not quite like black peppercorns… they had their own taste.
Rediscovering them here on Long Island. Same plant. Wondering if they’ve ever been designated as a spice and harvested as such.
The description makes it sound like Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), but the seed pods in your photo look much more rounded.
Daddy called it pepperweed. He was always fighting it in his lawn and garden. I suppose it’s invasive.
I think it’s some kind of pepperweed, genus Lepidium, maybe field pepperweed or Virginia pepperweed. The plants are edible as a green and the seeds can be used as a spice. Shepherd’s purse differs in having an indentation at the top of the seeds.