Lady’s Mantle is found both in the wild and in cultivated gardens. It has a time honored traditional use as a woman’s healing herb. It contains salicylic acid and has sedative properties that help to alleviate cramps and painful menstruation. Ladies Mantle has astringent and styptic properties, on account of the tannin it contains. It has a ‘drying and binding character’, according to the old herbals expressed and was traditionally considered one of the best vulneraries or wound herbs. Cuts, scrapes, and burns can be treated with skin washes of lady’s mantle to prevent infection.
For centuries, European women have been using lady’s mantle tea – a caffeine-free tisane made by infusing dried leaves of the Alchemilla vulgaris or related species – to relieve menstrual cramps and to treat sore throats. In Arab countries, this antioxidant-rich herbal infusion has traditionally been used to promote weight loss and to reduce inflammation and gastrointestinal pain. In recent years the scientific community has shown interest in the potential health benefits of lady’s mantle tea, and some of the traditional medicinal uses of this herb have in fact been substantiated by scientific studies. If you ask a herbalist about the health benefits of lady’s mantle tea, you will likely hear something about the use of lady’s mantle as a natural remedy for menstrual problems or other hormone-dependent conditions affecting women. In herbalism, lady’s mantle is commonly used to prevent and treat menstrual cramps, excessive menstrual bleeding, endometriosis, and uterine fibroids. Proponents of herbal and folk remedies may also recommend lady’s mantle tea for muscle spasms, diarrhea, nausea and certain gastrointestinal disorders.
Lady’s mantle is a powerful female herb for anytime during a women’s reproductive life. It helps relieve mild aches and pains during menstruation, with a tea or tincture able to stop spotting between periods and lessening excessive menstrual bleeding. Lady’s mantle has astringent qualities so it is useful for loose stools, and shrinking sores in one’s mouth or skin. Lady’s mantle is also helpful for the menopausal years, easing those troubling symptoms due to its astringent and anti-inflammatory actions.
Deb Soule (1998) suggests that a tea of lady’s mantle and raspberry leaves taken daily for 3 weeks is helpful for a prolapsed uterus. De Bairacli Levy (1973) was well aware of lady’s mantle as a female tonic and remedy for the “organs of generation.” She writes that lady’s mantle is used to cure barrenness (infertility) and restore normal menstruation, as well as to treat heart ailments and diabetes. Though, perhaps, left to folklore, there is still much left to say about this plant if only we continue to explore its powers!
To make your uterus happy brew a tea with 1tsp to 1 tablespoon of this herbal mixture: 1/2 cup lady’s mantle
1/2 cup red raspberry leaf and 1/4 cup lemon balm (you can add more to taste). Steep a tablespoon of herbs in a generous cup of hot water for about 5-10 minutes and strain. Begin drinking the tea about a week before you are expecting your period. If you have problems with heavy cramping, try drinking a cup (warm or iced) every day of the month.:)