Ladies Mantle (leaf + flower) Tea

Botanical Name: Alchemilla vulgaris

Plant Family: Rosaceae

Plant description: Ladies Mantle is native to Northern Europe, and preferring cooler climates is often found at higher altitudes and inside the Arctic Circle. It is a low growing perennial plant to 30 cm, with the above ground parts dying back through winter. The leaves are light green, rounded and ribbed with 7 – 11 lobes. The whole plant is clothed in soft hairs. The numerous small flowers are greenish yellow in terminal panicles.

Part used: Leaf and flower.

Harvest: The leaf and flower should be harvested when the plant is in its early flowering stage.

Active Constituents: Not well defined. Tannins (agrimoniin), flavonoids, phytosterols, glycosides (ranuculin).

Energetics: Bitter, astringent, neutral.

Actions: Astringent, antihaemorrhagic, anti-inflammatory, regulatory on the menstrual cycle, digestive tonic, alterative.

Uses: Ladies mantle historicall has been be used for menorraghia, metrorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, endometriosis, menopausal symptoms, diarrhoea, and gastro enteritis. It can be used as a mouth wash for sore throat and ulcers.

Dosage: Infusion – pour one cup of boiling water onto one teaspoon of dried herb and leave to infuse for five minutes. Drink up to one cup three times daily. For a mouth wash or diarrhoea, a stronger infusion is made by boiling the herb for a few minutes to extract the tannin. Fluid Extract (1:2) – 25—50 ml/week.

Cautions: Nil known.

Interactions: Nil known.

Certified Organic Australian grown, in Tasmania by Highland Herbs Tasmania.