138 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Var. a, genuina. 

 Petioles and underside of leaves sub-glabrous. 



Var. |3, montuna. Willd. 



A. montana, Willd. Enum. 170. 



A. vulgaris, /3 subsei-icea, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 256. Bah. Man. Brit. 

 Bot. ed. V. p. 93. 



Petioles and underside of leaves pilose. 



In pastures and by the sides of streams. Common in the 

 North of England and Scotland, but rare in the South of the 

 former country, and apparently absent from all the South-eastern 

 counties except Surrey and Essex. Eor var. 3 I am indebted to 

 the Rev. W. W. Newbould, who has found it at Bent's Green, 

 Sheffield. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Spring to 

 Autumn. 



Pootstock blackish, shortly creeping. Stems numerous, decum- 

 bent at the base and then ascending, 3 to 18 inches long. Petioles 

 of the root-leaves 2 inches to 1 foot long ; lamina plicate, 1^ to 

 5 inches in diameter, with the lobes approximate, wholly serrated, 

 with ovate-acute teeth ; stem-leaves much smaller, rarely more than 

 1 to 2 inches across. Inflorescence at lirst compact, but very lax in 

 fruit. Plowers \ inch across, greenish-yellow. Pedicels about as 

 long as the calyx-tube, which in fruit becomes ovoid-campanulate ; 

 segments about as long as the tube, the 4 outer ones a little shorter 

 and half as broad as the inner ones. Achene ovate-ovoid, pale- 

 yellowish, very finely striated and roughened with reddish glandular 

 points. Whole plant greyish-green, with the stems and veins of 

 the leaves beneath hairy, or, in var. 3, the whole of the underside 

 of the latter. 



Common Lady' s-Mantle. 



French, Alchemille Vulyaire. German, L'owenfusa. 



This plant is astringent in its properties. It is given in Sweden medicinally in 

 the form of a tincture in spasmodic complaints. In dry pastures it abounds, and is 

 eaten l)y cattle readily ; but it would scarcely answer as a fodder plant. It was called 

 Alkemclych by the Arabian physicians ; and Hoffman and others aflGrm that it has the 

 power of restoring feminine beauty, however faded, to its earliest freshness. 



Lightfoot tells us that the inhabitants of the Hebrides have subsisted for months 

 together on this plant in times of scarcity, and that they frequently tear up the roots 

 for food. They are simply boiled or roasted, and are said to taste like parsnips. The 

 roots are eaten greedily by pigs. 



