The cuff is part of the family Rosaceae, a subfamily of Rosanaceae. According to various sources, the genus includes 300-600 species. In the natural environment, the plant can be found in North America, Greenland, eastern Africa, almost throughout Eurasia, with the exception of the Far North and arid, tropical areas. The grass is popularly known as alchemilia, love spell, agaric, horseradish, ram. It is used in gardening, cooking, and alternative medicine.
Cuff description
A herbaceous perennial plant with erect stems forming a bush. Reaches 16-50 cm. The rhizome is horizontal, underdeveloped. The leaves are palm-dissected or palmate-lobed, rounded, with pubescence and teeth along the perimeter. Represent decorativeness. Each plate has from 5 to 11 concave blades. Foliage is collected at the base into a socket, forms a bush in the form of a sphere.
The flowers are whitish or greenish-canary, inconspicuous. The flowering is plentiful and long: from May to August. Fruits are like nuts with lots of seeds inside. Alchemilia prefers to grow along roads, at the edges, in bright forests, in marshy areas. It is a long-liver under good conditions for development. The life cycle is about 6 decades.
The cuff is soft, ordinary and other types
In our country, you can find about 170 species. Wild forms and hybrids are cultivated:
| View | Description | Height (cm) |
| Alpine | In the middle of summer, small yellowish flowers appear on elongated spread pedicels. The upper leaf region is emerald, the lower is silver with a pile. | 15 |
| Red-bellied | Inflorescences are light green and canary. The leaf plates are serrated, dissected into 7 lobes. | 20 |
| Hoppe | A close relative of the Alpine variety. Seven-bladed leaves. It grows among pieces of limestone. | 15 |
| Siberian | It can only be found in Siberia, hence the name. It has a thick rhizome, kidney-shaped pubescent leaves, representing decorativeness and collected in a rosette. Small green buds form paniculate inflorescences. Blooms in July. Reproduction occurs by dividing the rhizome. | 25-31 |
| Soft | It grows in western Asia and eastern Europe. Plates are rounded, fleecy. Inflorescences are friable, consist of malachite-lemon flowers, reaching a circumference of 3 mm. Flowering can be observed from mid to late summer. In the design of the landscape is often used as a grassy border. With the onset of frost, the green dies. | 45-51 |
| Common | Foliage with folds, especially noticeable in young specimens. It blooms lodging inflorescences from May to June. Used to treat many diseases. | 50 |
Cuff Care and Growing
Alchemilia is unpretentious in content. When grown in an artificial environment, it quickly passes adaptation to any environmental and climatic conditions. She can decorate sunny and shady areas. A distinctive feature is winter hardiness.
| Criterion | Recommendations |
| Location / Lighting | It calmly tolerates direct sunlight, but grows better with scattered light or with slight shading. |
| Priming | Fresh, with humus added. A small amount of clay is acceptable. The optimum level of acidity is 6. The cuff does not grow on a poor substrate. |
| Watering | There is enough atmospheric precipitation in partial shade. During droughts and when landing in the open sun, plentiful is needed. In this case, moisture stagnation should be avoided. |
| Other care |
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| Wintering | It tolerates cold in the middle zone of the Russian Federation. However, for the prevention of freezing in the winter, it is recommended to mulch with peat. |
Breeding
Occurs in several ways:
Seeds
You can sow immediately in the garden or grow seedlings. In the first case, sowing is carried out in March. In the second, in early November:
- Spread the seed in a box with moistened soil mixture.
- Cover with polyethylene to create a greenhouse effect.
- After a couple of weeks, take it to fresh air and bring it back only in early spring. This is necessary for stratification, which strengthens immunity in young bushes. They become resistant to various diseases.
- After wintering on the street, the seeds sprout quickly. They need to be transplanted into spacious pots after 21 days.
- After complete formation of the roots, land on a permanent place.
Cuttings
- After flowering, separate the sprouts from the main trunk with the outlet.
- Root in moist soil and put in a room with diffused lighting.
- After 2 weeks, plant in an open area, if the root system is sufficiently formed.
Division
Produced at any time of the year. Its disadvantage is the risk of rhizome damage. Because of this, rooting is long and painful.
Diseases and Pests
The cuff is susceptible to various diseases and pests. Usually the bush is sick due to errors in the content. Common lesions:
| Problem | Pathogenesis / symptoms | Control measures |
| Mold |
Grayish spots with a dark edging. |
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| Rust |
Yellow or reddish-brown circles on the green, eventually acquiring a dark color. | Spray with oxychrome or colloidal sulfur 2 times a month. |
| Septoria | The causes of damage are the same as with rust. Soft, bulging, round plaques of a dirty emerald hue. On the bottom side of the plates are slightly depressed, painted in a brownish-green tone. |
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| Ring mosaic |
Pale green stripes on the foliage. As the lesion spreads, they turn yellow, form large spots. The bush degrades and dies. | It is impossible to cure. The flower must be dug up and burned. |
| Aphid | The insect is distributed throughout Russia. It is impossible to avoid its appearance. The most important thing is to timely detect the pest and start the fight.
| Processing purchased poisons:
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| Spider mite |
| Spraying with Agrovertin, colloidal sulfur and other drugs. |
Mr. summer resident recommends: cuff - healing properties and its use
The plant is widely used in medicine. From it make infusions, decoctions, lotions. Its healing properties:
- antitumor;
- antimicrobial;
- vasoconstrictor;
- anti-inflammatory;
- wound healing;
- lactogenic;
- hemostatic.
The cuff is used to treat various diseases:
| Pathological condition | Description | Recipe |
| Gynecological diseases. | Restores the functioning of the ovaries, prevents the loss of a large amount of blood. Used for:
Healers recommend using alchemelia before conceiving a child and before labor itself. This helps to avoid problems when the baby is born. |
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| Ulcers, abrasions, open wounds. |
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| Venous insufficiency and other pathologies of CVS. |
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| Problems with the respiratory system. | Used for:
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| Gastrointestinal diseases. | It helps with:
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| Diabetes. |
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| General strengthening of the body. | Tea from a cuff is recommended for people of any age. It strengthens the immune system, restores vitality, saturates all organs and systems with vitamins and other nutrients. Especially useful for women during breastfeeding. Cuff drink improves lactation. |
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Despite the great benefits, not everyone can take grass, it has the following contraindications:
- individual intolerance;
- fast coagulability of blood;
- tendency to form blood clots;
- children under 2 years old.
Infusions, decoctions, teas from the cuff are undesirable to consume for a long time. With prolonged use or overdose, diarrhea can occur.
Before using any prescription, you need to consult a therapist. Only he will determine whether its use will be harmful.
The cuff is added in the preparation of various dishes: salads, soups. Leaves and stems can be used to preserve vegetables.
Cabbage recipe:
- Place 250 g of fresh, young herbs in a pan.
- Add 1 liter of meat broth.
- Wait for the foliage to boil.
- Add seasoning or sour cream to taste in the finished dish.
Thanks to the decorative, spreading foliage, alchemy is used in the design of landscape design. Usually it is planted to create a background for more colorful plants. She also harmoniously looks in tandem with the Alpine slides.
The grass looks attractive when the edge of the flowerbed goes into the pond. Planting a plant around the perimeter of the lawn is undesirable. The cuff is growing rapidly and can fill a space that is not intended for it.
When properly maintained, the cuff will adorn the garden for many decades. At hand there will always be a remedy for stopping various pathological conditions, a delicious additive for dishes. Despite such a large number of positive aspects in the cultivation of alchemia, caring for it is quite simple and does not require special skills.
