For many years I had never heard of lady's mantle. A few years ago, when I was already making some of my leaf jewelry, a woman contacted me and wanted to have wedding jewelry made for her.

She told me that she had found lady's mantle leaves that meant a lot to her and asked if I would make a pendant and earrings out of them for her wedding. She sent me the leaves and that was the first time I had a real lady's mantle leaf in my hand. I made the jewelry and the customer was delighted - I was of course very happy about that.

Now I had developed a taste for making lady's mantle pendants or earrings for my leaf collection . But first I had to go looking for leaves.

Lady's Mantle | 7 things you should definitely know about this leaf

And so it happened that I found a damp spot on the edge of a forest not far from my home where numerous lady's mantle leaves were growing! Once I knew what they looked like, I found them quickly and to this day I am completely in love with their beautiful shape and their slightly furry surface.

1 Appearance

The lady's mantle leaf belongs to the rose family and is easily recognizable by its leaf shape. The shape of the leaf is reminiscent of a widely spread lady's mantle from earlier times and this is certainly a major reason for its name. The leaf edge is very finely serrated and dewdrops tend to collect there. The leaves are very finely hairy and feel very soft and velvety to the touch.

In Latin, lady's mantle is called Alchemilla - which comes from the Arabic word alchemy. There is a story about lady's mantle that the dewdrop that can form inside the leaf is so pure that gold can be made from it. For a long time, many different people tried to do this.

2 occurrences

The lady's mantle was already native to the northern hemisphere in the Tertiary period over 65 million years ago. The lady's mantle prefers moist to wet conditions and is often found in damp meadows or on the edge of streams. The leaf is widespread throughout the northern hemisphere and makes it into many gardens in combination with roses or other ornamental plants.

The tree friend of the lady's mantle is the larch, so it likes to grow wherever this tree is found. In autumn, when the larch sheds its needles, this is the perfect fertilizer for the lady's mantle.

3 Ingredients

The entire plant is used for this, except for the root. Lady's mantle is known for its tannins - depending on its age and origin, it consists of 5 - 8% tannins and is nevertheless characterized by its mild effect and its good tolerability. Even people with very sensitive stomachs tolerate lady's mantle very well! The tannins have an astringent, anti-inflammatory and sealing effect.

In addition, the leaf also contains flavonoids, phytosterols, essential oils and minerals.

4 Effect

The herb is not called WOMEN'S mantle for nothing - its active ingredients are particularly helpful for various women's ailments.

It is said to ease menstrual cramps and balance hormonal imbalances in women. Due to its antispasmodic properties, it is also said to be very effective in relieving period cramps.

Lady's mantle is generally said to have a balancing effect on menstruation, and whether you have too much or too little, it will bring it into balance. That's exactly what I'm hoping for at the moment, and I've been drinking a mixture of lady's mantle, yarrow, shepherd's purse, and stinging nettle for some time.

It has this balancing property due to a plant substance that is similar to the female sex hormone progesterone.

Lady's mantle is also said to be effective in controlling gastrointestinal diseases accompanied by diarrhoea.

The anti-inflammatory and astringent effect is also said to have a positive effect on colds.

As you can see, lady's mantle is a real all-rounder and can be used for a wide range of ailments. The most common way to use lady's mantle is to make a tea and then drink it several times a day to treat one or another ailment. Lady's mantle tea also relieves stress and promotes sleep and is also said to relieve headaches.

5 Tea

Lady's mantle is most commonly enjoyed as a tea. You can buy dried leaves from the pharmacy and then pour 5-10 grams of them into boiling tea water, let it steep for 10-15 minutes, strain and enjoy.

Of course, you can also make the tea yourself from fresh leaves. To do this, take 1-2 grams of finely chopped or finely plucked lady's mantle leaves and pour 150 to 200 ml of boiling water over them. After 10 to 15 minutes, strain the leaf pieces.

6 Mysticism

Due to the special phenomenon of droplets forming on the leaf spikes, which then collect inside, the plant is said to have a certain mystique.

Hundreds of years ago, these dew drops (also called guttation drops), which come not only from the dew but also from parts of the plant, were collected and used as a beauty elixir.

The alchemists also tried to produce gold with the help of these drops.

7 Jewelry made from lady’s mantle leaves

The shape of the lady’s mantle leaf and its distinctive jagged leaf edge never cease to fascinate me.

To my delight, the leaves also grow in large quantities in my garden. But I also have special places on our walks where I find lady's mantle leaves in different sizes for my jewelry.

I make pendants in silver, gold plated and bronze from lady's mantle leaves . I also make studs and earrings and bracelets.

For the very first time, I was allowed to use lady's mantle leaf as a customer's request for a special wedding decoration and from then on, I have never let it go.

Since then, I have always been on the lookout for the lady's mantle leaf and these gems must never be missing from the entire leaf collection.

See you soon!