Lady's Mantle

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The plant is of graceful growth and though only a foot high and green throughout- flowers, stem and leaves alike, and therefore inconspicuous - the rich form of its foliage and the beautiful shape of its clustering blossoms make it worthy of notice. Maud Grieve. 1931[1]

Lady's Mantle is a genus of rosaceous herbs (Alchemilla), which has leaves with rounded and finely serrated lobes,^[2] of which a few species have been cultivated for their unobtrusive beauty^[3] and herbal properties for centuries.^[1]

Mounded or clump forming perennials,^[3] the foliage is carried on fine stems that often self-layer, are handshaped with rounded lobes and covered in fine hairs^[4] Green to bright chartreuse small, insignificant flowers, without the showy petals that their cousins like roses (Rosa) and cinquefoils (Potentilla) have, are held in clusters above the foliage in late spring and summer.^[3]

Botanists in the late 1800s described the genus this way: Thus in the flowers of the Alchemilla, the inner whorl of the perianth is wanting (nonexistent); the adrœcium (stamens) is also not unfrequently reduced to a single whorl."^[5]

Contents 1 Cultivation 2 Herbalism 3 Folklore 4 References 5 Further reading

[edit] Cultivation

The grey-green leaves of Lady's Mantle blend well with many colors in the garden, including purple, blue, pink, yellow and white.^[3] Cultivars of Lady's Mantle are temperate zone plants that prefer cool, moist, well-drained conditions with shade from hot sun. Plants are suitable for perennial borders or large rockeries. Propagation is by division, or can be raised from seed.

Alchemilla mollis

Hardy in USA Plant Hardiness Zones 3 - 8. Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Prefers part afternoon shade in hot summer climates. Freely self-seeds in the garden to the point of being invasive in optimum growing conditions. Prompt removal of spent flower stems will not only prevent self-seeding but may also encourage a sparse, late summer rebloom.^[6]

Cultivars of A. mollis^[3]

• Auslese
• Improved Form
• Robusta
• Senior
• Thriller

Alchemilla vulgaris

Both A. vulgaris and A. mollis are called Lady's Mantle and it is often not easy to identify one from the other. The flowers of A. vulgaris are smaller than A. mollis and tinged greenish rather than the yellowish of A. mollis.^[7]

Aphanes arvensis

Field Lady's Mantle or Parsley Piert; it used to be an Alchemilla but it has been reclassified as an Aphanes. Not so popular for cultivation but it has a history of being helpful for relieving diseases of the prostrate.^[8]

Alchemilla alpina

One of the species used by gardeners in rock gardens.

These plants are used as a food plant by some Lepidoptera species, including Emperor Moth and Grizzled Skipper.

Horses and sheep like to eat the plant, but it was an unpractical as profitable fodder as the grazing animals will not eat the leaves unless they are dried.^[1]

[edit] Herbalism

Species of Alchemilla have been widely used in folk medicine throughout Europe,^[9] due to the astringent and styptic properties of the tannins it contains and was formerly considered one of the best wound herbs.

As an astringent Lady's Mantle paradoxically both promotes delayed menstrual flow (an emmenagogue) and reduces abnormally heavy or prolonged menstruation (menorrhagia) or bleeding from the uterus that is not due to menstruation (metrorrhagia). an also has a role to play in easing the changes of the menopause. The same astringency can play a role in the treatment of diarrhea and as a mouthwash for sores and ulcers and as a gargle for laryngitis.^[9]

In Sweden, a tincture of the leaves has been given in cases of spasmodic or convulsive diseases, and an old authority states that if placed under the pillow at night, the herb will promote quiet sleep.^[1]

Active ingredients: Tannins, consisting mainly of glycosides of ellagic acid; salicylic acid, a trace.

[edit] Folklore

The name alchemilla ("little magical one") derives from the dew which collects on it - dew being formerly associated with magic. The dew was used as a beauty lotion by country people. Nicholas Culpeper claimed that the juice of this plant could firm up sagging breasts, while pillows stuffed with it could bring on a good sleep,^[10] however, M. Grieve quoted Culpeper this way:

"Lady's Mantle is very proper for inflamed wounds and to stay bleeding, vomitings, fluxes of all sorts, bruises by falls and ruptures. It is one of the most singular wound herbs and therefore highly prized and praised, used in all wounds inward and outward, to drink a decoction thereof and wash the wounds therewith, or dip tents therein and put them into the wounds which wonderfully drieth up all humidity of the sores and abateth all inflammations thereof. It quickly healeth green wounds, not suffering any corruption to remain behind and cureth old sores, though fistulous and hollow."

Perhaps 'all wounds inward and outward' loosely translates into 'sagging breasts'....^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Herbs and Healing Plants of Britain & Europe, Dieter Podlech, Collins, London, 2001 ISBN 0261674056
• University of Illinois Extension. Lady’s Mantle Alchemilla vulgaris (HTML). Directory of Groundcovers. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
• University of Vermont Extension (January 1999). Perennial of the Month - Alchemilla mollis (HTML). Perry's Perennial Pages. University of Vermont. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.