SECT. II 



PHANEROGAMIA 



655 



spring and summer flowers ; Lamium, Galeopsis, and Stachys have the upper 

 lip hehnet-shaped, Ajuga has it very short, while in Teucrium the u^iper 

 lip is deeply divided. Ncpeta and Ghchoma differ from the majority of the 

 order, in having the posterior stamens longer than those of the anterior pair. 

 Salvia, Sage, is a genus containing numerous species ; the flowers are protandrous 

 and are characterised by the 

 suppression of two of the 

 stamens usually present (Fig. 

 695). The two fertile stamens 

 have a very long connective, 

 with the anterior theca, in 

 which pollen is formed, pro- 

 tected beneath the upper lip. 

 The posterior theca, the de- 

 velopment of which diff'ers in 

 the species, projects into the 

 entrance of the corolla tube 

 leading to the nectary (cf. p. 502 

 Fig. 458) A bee visiting the 

 flower presses the theca up- 

 wards, and thus brings down 

 the other arm of the lever, 

 formed by the elongated con- 

 nective, upon its back. In 

 older flowers the bifid stigma 

 occupies such a position that 

 it will rub off pollen brought 

 by an insect from another 

 flower. Many species of Salvia 

 are cultivated as ornamental 

 plants, and are often conspicu- 

 ous, rather by reason of their 

 brightly coloured bracts than 

 by their flowers. Labiatae are 

 especially abundant in the 

 xerophytic formation of shrub- 

 by plants in the ]\Iediterranean 

 region to which the name 

 Maquis is given : Salvia offici- 

 nalis, Marruhium, Plilomis, 

 and species of Lavandula (Fig. 

 694). Jlosmarinus officinalis 

 is a showy shrub with small 

 narrow leaves revohite at 



the margin, and bright blue flowers with only two fertile stamens, 

 species are grown as kitchen herbs, e.g. Origamom majorana, Satureja hortensis, 

 Ocimum basilicum, Salvia, and Thymus. Thymus rulgaris from the Mediterranean, 

 like our native T. serpyllum, is a low, shrubby plant with polygamous flowers ; 

 there are larger, hermaphrodite, and small, purely female flowers. Some species 

 of Mentlta are similar. The widel / cultivated M. jM^crita is a hybrid between 

 M. viridis and M. aquatica ; it is completely sterile, and has been propagated by 



Fig. 696. — Melissa officinalis (J nat. size). 

 (After Berg and Schmidt.) 



Many 



