Lady's Mantle

Today's the day ...................... to turn to gold

The soft hairy leaves of Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) are just the best at creating perfect spheres of water, that linger after a shower of rain.

Of course, it's all to do with the surface tension at a solid/liquid interface that holds the water droplet like this - but it is rather magical.  And I'm not the only one to think so.  Apparently these beads of water were considered by alchemists, practising that ancient branch of natural philosophy, to be the purest form of water. 

They used this water in their quest to turn base metal into gold - which is how it came by its latin name - Alchemilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .