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it also dyes wool of a yellow colour. It is V Aigremoine of the French, and 

 Der Odermennig of the Germans, while the Dutch call it Agrimonie. The 

 root in spring is sweet scented. 



11. Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla). 



1. Common Lady's Mantle (A. vulgcms). — Leaves kidney-shaped, 

 plaited, with from 7 to 9 lobes, blunt, serrated; flowers in loose divided 

 clusters. Plants perennial. This herb is more attractive by the beauty of 

 its foliage than by the small but pretty flowers, which from June to August 

 deck it with yellowish green petals. Purton in his " Midland Flora " 

 remarks, "I agree with Dr. Abbot, the author of the 'Bedford Flora,' that 

 this is one of the most elegant of the native plants," and though more showy 

 and brilliant flowers are to be seen, yet most people would agree with this 

 opinion. The stem is about a foot high, and the foliage, which is very large 

 for the size of the blossom, is in one form, rendered of a grey green by the 

 quantity of soft silky hair upon it. The plant is not uncommon on moist 

 hilly pastures in the north of this kingdom, growing in similar places 

 throughout nearly the whole of Europe. It bears in Sweden, as in our 

 country, a name which refers to the Virgin Mary, for it is there called 

 Maria Kapa. The French term the plant L'Alchemille, the Germans Der 

 Sinau, the Dutch Lemvenvod. In the upland pastures, where it abounds, it is 

 eaten readily by sheep as Avell as by some other animals. Some writers say 

 that the plant is not relished by cows, but Haller, in his " Iter Helveticum," 

 remarks, that the extraordinary richness of the milk in the dairies of the 

 Alps is attributed altogether to those animals having fed upon this plant and 

 the Ribwort Plantain. In Gothland a tincture is made of its. leaves for 

 spasmodic or convulsive diseases. In an epidemic complaint of this kind 

 in 1754, a medicine made from this Lady's Mantle was considered very 

 efficacious, and it had long been in repute as a remedy in milder forms of 

 disease, and was also, though with little reason, praised as an outward 

 application to wounds. Several species of the Alchemilla are esteemed as 

 tonics, but, as Professor Burnett observes, they have been prized above their 

 deserts. The Arabian physicians have a very high opinion of the remedial 

 virtues of this common species, and Hoftman and others have affirmed that 

 it has the power of restoi'ing beauty and freshness to the faded complexion. 

 It is called Alkemelyeh by the Arabs, and was formerly prized by the 

 alchemists as an ingredient in their preparations. 



2. Alpine Lady's Mantle (A. alpina). — Root-leaves digitate, with 

 fiom 5 to 7 divisions, which are blunt and closely serrated at the ends, and 

 white and. satiny beneath. Plant perennial. Two varieties occur of this 

 pretty plant, which are by some writers described as species. In the first 

 the leaflets are quite distinct to the base, and in the second the leaflets arc 

 joined together to nearly a third of their length. The former is sometimes 

 called A. argcnfea, the latter A. conjunda. The name of argentea would not 

 be inapplicable to any form of the species, for never was leaf more silvery 

 than this, nor have we any native plant the foliage of which is more beautiful. 

 Like many other leaves rendered white by silky down, they long preserve 

 their beauty even in the herbarium. So glossy is the foliage, that the under 



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