Alchemilla
(from Alkemelyeh, the Arabic name of one of the species). Lady's Mantle. ORD. Bosaceae. Hardy herbaceous perennials, with corymbose, apetalous flowers; calyx tubular, with the tube rather contracted at the apex. Leaves palmate or lobed. Of very easy culture, in common, but well drained soil. They are well adapted for rockwork and planting near the front of borders. Easily increased by divisions of the roots, and seeds. All here described are hardy, except A. sibbaldiaefolia.
A. alpina (alpine).* fl. greenish, small; corymbose. June. l. digitate; leaflets five to seven, lanceolate-cuneated, obtuse, serrated, clothed with white satiny down beneath. h. 6in. Britain.
A. pubescens (pubescent). fl. greenish; corymbs terminal, crowded, clothed with a coating of long weak hairs. June. l. roundish-reniform, seven-lobed, toothed, silky beneath. h. 6in. to 8in. Caucasus (Higher), 1813. A. sericea (silky).* fl. greenish, corymbose. June l. digitate; leaflets seven, lanceolate-obovate, obtuse, connected at the base, serrated at the apex, clothed with satiny down beneath. h. about 6in. Caucasus, 1813. Much larger in every part than A. alpina, to which it is closely allied. A. Sibbaldiaefolia (Sibbaldia-leaved). fl. white, conglomerate; stem corymbosely many-flowered at the apex. July. l. deeply three-parted, clothed with adpressed pubescence beneath; segments deeply serrated, lateral ones bifid. h. 6in. Mexico, 1823. A greenhouse species, which should be grown in small well-drained pots, with a mixture of leaf soil and sandy loam.