Rosemary 



There are only two stamens (instead of the four 

 usually found in this family), and these stand on short 

 filaments in the throat of the tube. At the base are 

 four nutlets, like four little eggs, and from the centre 

 of the four rises a long dark purple column which 

 runs along under the upper lip and out a considerable 

 distance beyond it, forking into unequal parts at the 

 end. The stamens are mature before the style, hence 

 the bees (whose affection for the flowers Bacon noted) 

 and the wasps (who also love it) visiting the younger 

 flowers carry off pollen with them. On their visiting 

 an older flower they strike upon the now receptive 

 stigma and leave at least some of the pollen grains 

 thereon. Honey drawn by the bees from Rosemary 

 flowers is supposed to be of particularly good flavour. 



The flowers begin to appear very early in the 

 year, and blossom is at its zenith about the end of 

 April. The old superstition was that Rosemary 

 blossomed on the day of the Passion of Christ. Above 

 the flowering part of the shoot, the new shoots of the 

 current year are flowerless. As the flowers are set 

 close down among the leaves the shrub makes no great 

 show, nor is it planted with any view to floral effect. Scent, 

 foliage and sentiment are the foundation of its popularity. 



Since it is evergreen [and adaptable, Rosemary 

 makes an admirable hedge, and no better one could be 

 found for a garden where those that walk therein are 



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