Aphanes

Aphanes, or Parsley-piert, is a genus from the Rose family Rosaceae.

A study from 2003 (see Rosoideae) indicates that Aphanes may belong to the genus Alchemilla, commonly called Lady's-mantle.

These are slender, annual prostrate herbs, much-branched with deeply lobed leaves on short petioles ( = leaf stalks). They are pilose ( = covered with soft hair). Tiny green to yellow flowers without petals, grow in clusters in the denticulate leaflike stipules.

They grow in Europe and Western Asia.

Field Parsley-piert is sometimes used as a herbal remedy against kidney and bladder calculi. It acts as a potent diuretic and antilithic.

Species

• Aphanes arvensis : Field Parsley-piert, Western Lady’s-mantle, Parsley Breakstone
• Aphanes australiana : Australian Piert
• Aphanes inexpectata : Slender Parsley-piert
• Aphanes microcarpa (= Aphanes inexpectata): Slender Parsley-piert, Smallseed Lady’s-mantle