Alchemilla arvensis
Species of flowering plant
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Name
The name of parsley piert has nothing to do with parsley. It is a corruption of the French perce-pierre, meaning 'stone-piercer' and was given to the plant because of its habit of growing in shallow, stony soil and emerging between stones. As in the case of saxifrage (from the Latin meaning 'stone-breaker') it was wrongly assumed that the plant could pierce stones; and it was thought that a medicine made of parsley piert would break up stones in the bladder and kidneys. Old folk-names for the plant include colicwort and bowel-hive-grass (hive meant inflammation), showing that it was also used for intestinal ailments.
The previous genus name of Aphanes comes from a Greek word meaning "unseen" or "unnoticed", which precisely describes this tiny plant. Nevertheless, parsley piert is a very common and widespread weed of cultivated ground, whether acidic or not.
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Description
Alchemilla arvensis is 2–20 centimetres (3⁄4–7+3⁄4 in) high, leaves 2–10 millimetres (1⁄16–3⁄8 in) long, fan-shaped, short-stalked, with 3 deep-toothed main lobes. On display from April to October, the flowers are minute, less than 2 mm wide, in dense clusters in leraf-axils, surrounded by cups formed by leaf-stipules; they have four sepals and an epicalyx, but no petals, and usually one stamen. The fruit is a pointed oval.
Distribution and habitat
It can be found in most of Europe including Britain, east to Iran on arable land, bare ground, on paths, on dry or chalky soils.
Uses
The leaves have a slightly acidic flavor and are edible raw.
The 17th-century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, recommended parsley piert for use in salads, although it would be difficult to gather sufficient quantities of such a tiny plant for a reasonable meal. Culpeper also recommends the plant to gentlemen for eating as a winter pickle in addition to the pickled samphire to which they were accustomed.