assembled under Salvia into several different groups. 
What then is the mysterious power which holds these 
jarring forms in such peaceable communion that none even 
of the most analytical of modern observers have yet 
attempted to dissever them ? and whence does it arise, that 
Salvia stands alone amidst all the tribes of its kindred 
Labiatae, independent of the power of division to which the 
rest are obedient ? This can only be understood from an 
examination of its stamina, in which the mystery will 
be found to reside. In Salvia these organs are in such 
an extraordinary state of positive metamorphosis, that a 
parallel can scarcely be found to it throughout all the 
multitude of variations to which the parts of fructification 
are subject. We say of positive metamorphosis, as distin¬ 
guished from those hypothetical forms, the discus, for 
example, the nature of which is capable of explanation 
from analogical reasoning only, rather than by actual 
demonstration. In Salvia, the apparent filament is not 
a filament; the apparently perfect anthera is only half 
perfect; the superfluous spur or appendage at the base of 
the apparent filament is neither a spur nor an appendage, 
nor superfluous, but an integral part of the stamen, and 
present in all regular stamina; the apparently unusual 
articulation of the filament, where the supposed appendage 
is found, is so far from being unusual, that it almost univer¬ 
sally exists in regularly formed stamina. All this may 
seem very paradoxical and improbable; but it is neither 
paradoxical nor uncertain, as will presently be more plainly 
seen. Take a flower of the present species, or of any 
other Salvia, and examine the stamina; it will be seen 
that they are exserted from the anterior part of the orifice 
of the corolla, and occupy the place of the front stamens 
in didynamous Labiatee. It will also be seen that there is 
a small subulate process proceeding from the corolla, upon 
which & filament-like body is unequally balanced, as upon a 
swivel, the one half having a subulate form and upward 
direction, and bearing an anthera; the other having a 
downward direction, a dilated, irregular form, and bearing 
nothing except a discoloured stain on one edge, which 
is thinner than the other, and which adheres to the same 
part of the stamen which is next it: by that adhesion 
counterbalancing the greater weight and length of the 
upward anther-bearing part. The explanation of this 
