Meadows, fields and pastures— summer 231 



Section op the flower op 

 Salvia. 



1. ytigma — not yet mature. 



2. Stamen. 



of the coi'olla, and thrusts its tongue througli the hole to reach the 

 nectar at the base of the tube. In doing this it pushes the 

 abortive anthers backwards, and the 

 upper, fertile anther cells, which rest 

 under the arched upper lip, are thus made 

 to swing downwards and forwards so 

 that they touch the bee's back ; and, if 

 they are ripe, to deposit some pollen. 

 After the pollen has been thus removed, 

 the style lengthens and curves down- 

 ward, bringing the stigma, which is now 

 mature, to the position previously occu- 

 pied by the fertile anther cells at the 



time they were made to swing downwards by the bee. Thus, if 

 a bee which has previously visited a flower with mature anthers 

 now comes to one in which the stigma is ripe, the pollen dusted on 

 its back by the former is 

 rubbed against the stigma 

 of the latter, and cross- 

 fertilisation is the result. 



The Common Marjoram 

 {Origanum vulgare) is an 

 aromatic plant that often 

 grows in great abundance 

 on dry hilly pastures, 

 especially in limestone and 

 chalky districts. Its stem 

 is thin and hairy, a foot 

 or more in height ; and the 

 leaves are stalked, ovate, 

 blunt, slightly toothed, 

 downy, and about an inch 

 in length. The flowers, 

 which bloom from July to 

 September, are of a rosy, 

 purple colour, in numerous 

 globvilar clusters, the whole 

 inflorescence forming a 



leafy panicle. The overlapping bracts are about as long as the 

 calyx, and usually tinged with red or purple ; the calyx has five, 

 short, equal teeth, and is very hairy in the throat ; the corolla 



The Selp-heal. 



