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In speaking of the Bugle on page 22 we promised to say more of Labiate flowers further on. Salvia is a labiate, and of similar construction to Ajuga. S. pratensis is a rare plant, found only in Cornwall, Kent, and Oxford, from June to August. The soft wrinkled leaves have the edges cut into convex teeth (crenate). The flowers are large and bright blue; they are borne in whorls, usually of four or five flowers, on a tall spike. There is a more frequent species, the Wild Sage or Clary (S. verbenaca), found in dry pastures all over the kingdom south of Ross-shire from June to September. It is similar in habit to S. pratensis, but smaller, with the flowers more inclined to purple. The Sage of the kitchen-garden is S. officinalis; not a native plant. The name Salvia is from the Latin Salvo, to save or heal, from its former great repute in medicine.

Meadow Sage. Salvia pratensis. —Labiatæ.—

Annual Meadow-Grass. Poa annua. Cock’s-foot-grass. Dactylis glomerata.

—Gramineæ.—

Most labiate flowers produce honey from the base of the ovary; and this, of course, is a distinct bribe to insects to visit them. It would not be an economical arrangement for a flower to provide honey for all comers without the plant getting a quid pro quo; we therefore find all sorts of “dodges” to ensure a service being done by the honey-seeker. As we have shown in the Bugle, the anther and stigma occupy the arch of the upper lip. As a rule the ripe anthers first occupy the foremost position, so that if a bee alights on the lower lip and pushes into the corolla for the honey his hairy back will brush off the pollen from the anthers. After the honey is shed the stigmas come forward and occupy the former position of the anthers. Should a bee that has got dusted with pollen at an earlier flower now pay a visit the stigmas will collect some pollen from his back and the ovules become fertilized. This is the general plan in the order Labiatæ, but there are modifications in each genus.