336 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



Tbucrium 



Protandrous bee flowers. The upper lip is apparently 

 absent, as in Ajuga. We have four species. T. 

 Scordium and T. Botrys have axillary flowers. In the 

 other two they are in terminal one-sided spikes ; T. 

 Scorodonia has pale yellow, T. Chamoedrys red flowers. 

 When the flower opens the anthers stand out at the 

 orifice ; afterwards they bend up, and their place is 

 taken by the stigma. 



T. Scorodonia (Wood Sage). — The corolla -tube is 

 9-10 mm. long, sometimes nearly half filled with nectar. 

 When the lower flowers of a raceme have reached the 



second (female) 

 condition (Fig. 

 220), the upper 

 ones are still male 

 (Fig. 219), so that 

 a bee first visits 

 female flowers, 

 and then dusts 

 itself with pollen, 

 which it probably 

 carries to an- 

 other plant. The 

 plant is pubes- 

 cent. 



T. Chamsedrys. — According to H. Miiller the pistil 

 is only as long as the shorter stamens, while according 

 to Schulz it exceeds the longer ones. The leaves are 

 pubescent ; the stem hairy. It is not a British plant, 

 but found, rarely, as a garden escape on old walls. 



Lycopus 



In this genus the stamens are reduced to two. The 

 complete flowers are protandrous ; there are also smaller 

 ones which are female. The corolla - tube is only 

 3-4 mm. long, and the nectar is therefore accessible 

 even to insects with a very short proboscis. 



It is represented in our flora by L. europseus, a 



Vig. 219. Fig. 220. 



Fig. 219. — Teucrium Hcondonia. Flower in the first 



state, witli anthers erect. Enlarged. 

 Fig. 220. — Flower in the second state, with recurved 



anthers and exposed stigmas. 



