LADY'S MANTLE 39 



The flower is like that of P. verna, in which there is a ring-like 

 ridge on the inner wall of the tube borne on the top of the flower-stalk, 

 which surrounds the base of the stamens, and is marked by its dark 

 reddish-yellow colour. The honey is not secreted in drops, but in a 

 very evident, smooth adherent layer. The anthers become covered 

 on both sides with pollen, and ripen at the same time as the stigmas. 



Insects alight in the centre, or on the petals, and in the latter case 

 they dust themselves with pollen, but do not touch the stigmas, as the 

 honey-ring lies farther out. If they alight in the middle of the next 

 flower they cross-pollinate it. But the flower is often self-pollinated. 

 The flowers close up in part in dull weather, and completely at night, 

 and it is then that the anthers touch the stigmas. 



The visitors are Prosopis armillata, P. hyalinata, Halictus macu- 

 /ahis, H. leucozonus, H. sexstrigatus, Andrena albums, A. nana, 

 Sphecodes gibb^ls, Nomada xanthosticta, N. succincta, Ammophila 

 sabulosa, Syrphus arcuatus. 



The achenes or fruits are granulated or covered with little points, 

 and are dispersed, when dry, around the parent plant. 



A dry sand soil is the principal requirement of Cinquefoil, which 

 is strictly a sand plant, growing luxuriantly on sand, derived from 

 sedimentary rocks or even directly from older granitic debris. 



Xestophanes potentillce forms galls upon the stems and rhizomes, and 

 a moth, the Knotgrass {A crony eta rumicis], feeds on the Cinquefoil. 



The second Latin name refers to its creeping habit. It is called 

 Cinquefoil, Fiflef, Five-finger-blossom, Five-finger-grass, Five-fingers, 

 Five-leaf, Five-leaved-grass, Golden-blossom, Herb Five-leaf, Sink- 

 field, Synkefoyle, Tormentil. Sinkfield is merely a corruption for 

 Cinquefoil, which alludes to the five leaflets. 



In the fourteenth century it was much used, and imagined to be 

 a cure, for stomach complaints. Like Tormentil it is astringent and 

 used in dysentery, being also used for tanning. Tea used for fevers 

 was made with it. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



100. Potentilla reptans, L. Stem slender, rooting, creeping, leaflets 

 obovate, leaves stalked, flowers large, yellow, petals five, obcordate, 

 carpels rough. 



Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris, L.) 



No trace of Lady's Mantle is found in the rocks. It is an Arctic 

 plant found in the North Temperate and Arctic regions in Arctic 

 Europe, N. and W. Asia, Kashmir, Greenland, Labrador. In Great 



