Plant · P-891

Lady's Mantle

Alchemilla vulgaris

Lady's mantle forms a low mound of soft, pleated round leaves that catch beads of dew and rain long after everything else has dried - the trait that gave the genus its name, when medieval alchemists took the collected water for the purest form there was. Sprays of small chartreuse flowers rise above the foliage from early summer into fall, and the astringent, tannin-rich leaves have a long history as a wound and menstrual remedy. It self-seeds into a tidy groundcover under shrubs and trees, shrugs off deer and rabbits, and asks only for steady moisture - full sun over dry soil scorches it fast.