Lady’s mantle

Scientific name: Alchemilla vulgaris L. 

Common name: alpine alchemilla, star grass, red grass, fan grass, lion's foot. 

English name: lady’s mantle, lion’s foot, common ladies’s mantle. 

Parts used: leaves and roots. 

Components: tannins, ellagic acid, phytosterols, saponins, essential oil, salicylic acid. 

Properties: astringent, anti-inflammatory, healing. 

Curiosity: the name derives from "alchemy", given its use by alchemists, who collected the flower to make gold, appealing to the phenomenon of large drops of water that form at the ends of the folds of the leaves in the morning.