Alchemilla micans Shining Lady's-mantle RRR DD N
The return journey from a trip to see Mertensia maritima (Oysterplant) at Ballantrae, allowed us to make a diversion to a secret location in the north of England to see a very rare Alchemilla. Lady's Mantles are said to be obligate apomicts which means they clone themselves to produce offspring without exchanging genetic material through pollination. Differentiating them in the field is very tricky but fortunately one of our number was expert enough to be able to do this.
To my untutored eye this simply appeared to be a bigger version of the other Alchemilla species I had been shown in the past but the little differences noticed by experts are consistent and allow us to be sure that this is a separate species albeit a every rare one. In this case we were told that the little green flowers which have a slightly enlarged receptacle below the flowers give one of the morphological clues to its identity. The hypanthium is said to be shaped like a shot glass - not very helpful since the interior of a shot glass containing the dispensed alcoholic liquor is quite often a different shape to the exterior according to shot glass catalogues. The name Shining Lady's-mantle would also imply that perhaps the leaf surfaces were shiny. They weren't.
Soon there will be a BSBI guide to Alchemillas and perhaps then I will be better informed.
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| Alchemilla micans Shining Lady's-mantle (leaf) | Alchemilla micans Shining Lady's-mantle (flowers) |
Somewhere secret in the north of England, 22nd June 2017
Added on 16th July 2017