MASS IV. ORDER I.] ALCHEMILLA. 201 



GENUS XIV. ALCHEMIL'LA. Linn. Lady's Mamie. 



Nat. Ord. RosA'cEiE. 



Gen. Char. Perianth single, inferior, eight-cleft ; the four outer al- 

 ternate ones smallest. Fruit a solitary or double nut, surrounded 

 by the persistent perianth. Seed suspended. — Name from the 

 Arabic alkan elyeh, alchemy ; from its pretended alchemical virtues- 



1. A. vulya'ris, Linn. (Fig. 256.) common Lady's Mantle. Leaves 

 plaited, lobed, and serrated. 



English Botany, t. 597. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 224. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 103. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 73. 



/3. mi'nor, Hudson. Leaves very downy. 



Root woody, with numerous long, branched fibres. Plant from four 

 to sixteen inches high. Stetyi procumbent at the base, becoming erect 

 round, hairy, with alternate branches. Root leaves numerous, large, 

 handsome, plaited, with niunerous rounded serrated lobes, hairy, espe- 

 cially beneath, on long, channeled, hairy footstalks, slender, and, like 

 the stems, surrounded with pale, dry, brown, membranous scales. Stem 

 leaves very small, nearly sessile, alternate, with two large, deeply toothed 

 stipules, united at the base. Inflorescence in numerous lax, small, ter- 

 minal, co]-ymbose clustersof yellowish-green hairy yZoiwrs; i\\e perianth 

 inferior, of one piece, tubular ; the limb in eight acute spreading seg- 

 ments, the four alternate outer ones smallest. 



Habitat. — Pastures, woods, and meadows, common ; especially in 

 alpine districts. 



Perennial ; flowering from June to August. 



This is one of our more elegant little plants, and is said by Hoffman 

 and others to possess the power of restoring feminine beauty, however 

 faded, to its earliest freshness. 



2. A. alpi'na, Linn. (Fig. 257.) alfine Lady's Mantle. Leaves in 

 about six serrated segments, green above, white and satiny beneath. 



English Botany, t. 244. — English I'lora, vol. i. p. 225. — Lindlej', 

 Synopsis, p. 103. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 73. 



Root somewhat woody, with long spreading fibres. Stem from four 

 to eight inches high, round, slender, and downy, erect, or slightly pro- 

 cumbent at the base, alternately branched. Root leaves on long, round, 

 slender, hairy stalks, the segments varying from five to seven, ovate* 

 lanceolate, closely serrated at the extremity, green and nearly smooth 

 above, thickly clothed beneath with soft, white, silvery hairs, which 

 give it a most beautiful appearance. Stem leaves small, sessile, or on 

 short stalks, with two toothed or deeply serriited stipules. Inflorescence 

 similar to the last. The outer alternate segments of the perianth very 

 small. 



VOL. I. 2 D 



