92 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



GARDEN SAGE Salvia officinalis 



The flowers grow in a graceful 

 spire, and bloom from below upward. 

 Here, again, we must make sec- 

 tions of an unopened flower to un- 

 derstand clearly the workings of 

 its scheme. In the buds we find 

 the beginnings of four stamens, 

 but two of these at the back of the 

 throat are destined to remain as 

 little embryo things, coming to 

 nought. The pair in front 

 promise at first to bear anthers 

 of the usual sort two capsules 

 on a long filament as seen in 

 the first diagram. But the 

 anther-cells gradually separate 

 from each other, growing wider 

 and wider apart, till they stand 

 facing each other on the tips of 

 SAGE a crescent. Then the inner 



anther-cell, nearest the throat of the flower, 

 fades and falls, and the little crescent becomes 

 hinged on its support so that it rises and falls 

 with the remaining cell full of pollen, just as an 

 old-fashioned well-sweep rises and falls with its 

 bucket. 



