2i6 SOUTH AFRICAN FLOWERING PLANTS. 



It will be observed that the sepals and petals are 

 nearly regular. The stamens, though one pair is longer 

 than the other, the fifth being suppressed, stand out in 

 a spreading manner. Comparing this flower with that 

 of Lcono'tis, it will be seen that in the latter the insect 

 enters one flower at a time, the anthers are above and 

 strike the bee on the back, covering it with pollen. 

 On entering another flower, the forked stigma pro- 

 truding from the top of the hood strikes 

 the bee where the pollen was deposited. 

 In the Mints, however, as the flowers 

 are very small and densely clustered 

 together, the bee walks over them and 

 gets dusted anywhere ; the stigmas (just 

 visible in Fig. 86) thus easily get 

 dusted. 

 Fig 86 — Nearly ^^® garden mint is a cultivated 

 Peppermfnt^"^ °^ Variety of a South European species. 

 Peppermint is another, and the drug 

 ''Menthol" is obtained from a Chinese species {M. 

 jr)iperascens). 



Sal'via. — This genus, of which >S^. officina'lis is the 

 garden sage, has many Cape species, both herbs and 

 shrubs, dispersed through the Colony. I have already 

 described the curious instance of a mechanical adapta- 

 tion to bees for pollination, as the accompanying 

 illustrations will show.^ 



^ See p. 27. 



