WOOD SAGE (American Germander) 

 Teucrium canadense L. 



June - July 

 Along railroads, in 

 moist fields. Woods 



AVood sage is a member of the Mint family, or 

 l^abiatae, meaning the Lipped Ones. Most mem- 

 bers of the family, a veiy large one and very 

 diverse in form, yet always umiiistakably mints, 

 have a four-sided, squarish stem. Their leaves are opposite, the flowers 

 intricately constructed with a tube and a flaring lip. Usually there are 

 five parts to the corolla, with two parts above and three below, but varied 

 by innumerable plans of fluting, laciness, or color. The stamens are in- 

 serted on the tul)e of the corolla, and the pistil usually curves with the 

 curve of the tube, arches under the two upper corolla parts, and protrudes 

 with a double lobe at the end. This neatly comes in contact with pollen 

 on the fuzzy back of a small bee or other insect ^\'hich has gone into 

 another mint flower for nectar and has had pollen brushed upon its 

 back. The insect enters head first, eager for the nectar at the bottom of 

 the tube. The pistil is encountered first; this removes pollen from the 

 bee's back. The insect pushes further in and gets its nectar, and in 

 backing out comes in contact with the low-hung stamens full of pollen. 

 This is carried to another flower. 



Wood sage has the characteristics of the family — a tall, stiff, gi'eyish, 

 four-angled stem, and a degi'ee of aromatic quality, but not as much as 

 some other mints. The leaves are thick, finely toothed, opposite, and the 

 stem terminates in a long, tapering wand of pale lavender-pink flowers 

 whose throats have deeper pink or red speckles and guide lines. The 

 buds further up the spire are arranged systematically, like a pagoda. The 

 flowers begin to bloom from below, but the entire stalk seldom is in bloom 

 all at once. AVood sage grows in woods and lowlands and blooms abun- 

 dantly most of the summer. 



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