Lady's-mantle
Latin name
Alchemilla spps
Family
Rosaceae
Flowering season
May to September
English distribution
The most common of the 13 native species, Alchemilla filicaulis
subsp. Vestita, Southern Lady’s-mantle, is found mainly in the
West and the North.
The most common naturalised species, A. Mollis, Garden Lady’s
-mantle, is found throughout the country, except for parts of
East Anglia and the Southeast.
For a map see the National Biodiversity Network Gateway
Habitat
Southern Lady’s-mantle grows in grassy areas, such as rough
pasture, banks, open woodland, chalk downs, hill-sides and
beside roads.
Garden Lady’s-mantle is a neophyte, which has been grown
in gardens in the UK since the 1870s, but was not recorded in
the wild before the 1940s.
It spreads from garden throw-outs, rhizomes and seed and has
become widely naturalised in waste ground and beside rivers
and roads.
Description
Lady’s-mantle is a vigorous, low-growing perennial herb.
The flowers are in groups and are small (up to 3mm across).
They are conspicuous because they are yellowy green and
well above the leaves.
The flowers are 4-merous with 2 rings of sepals, 4 stamens
but no petals.
The ovules and stigmas are bottle shaped.
The leaves are palmate, toothed and can be hairy.
They vary in size and in their shade of green.
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Lady's-mantle
Flower spikes
Sepal rings, stugma
Stamens
9-lobed leaf