226 FLOWERS OF WASTE PLACES, ETC. 



hairy, with narrow, straight, triangular to awl-like teeth, the points long 

 and slender, as long as or longer than the tube, which is straight. The 

 corolla-tube is swollen below. The throat is gradually inflated. The 

 upper lip is vaulted, softly hairy. The lateral lobes are variable. 

 The anthers are hairy, and the outer or the inner stamens may be 

 the longer. The nutlets have no scales. 



The plant is i ft. high. It flowers in April up to September. It is 

 a perennial propagated by division. 



Honey lies in the rather narrower portion of the tube. The vaulted 

 upper lip amply protects it from the rain, and the ring of hairs also 



WHITE DEAD NETTLE (Lamium album, L.) 



serves the same purpose. The lip is broad above this narrower part, 

 the tube expanding above; and this serves as an alighting place for 

 insects, especially large bees, which are able to penetrate to the bottom 

 of the narrow portion, whilst smaller bees cannot. The hairs near the 

 base of the tube exclude creeping insects. The lower lip has lateral 

 projections, rudiments of lateral petals of primitive Dead Nettles, which 

 serve as levers for the insect, to push its proboscis down the tube. 

 The anthers and pistil are covered by the arched upper lip, and this 

 prevents them from yielding too readily, ensuring that pollen brought 

 by the insect from other flowers is applied to the stigma. 



The stamens do not form a ring, and one is absent or rudimentary, 

 and the 4 lie, 2 on each side of the pistil under the lip, 2 long, 2 short, 



