Cultivated-Plant Study 639 



But the pollen story is not all that is of interest in the salvia. Some of 

 the parts of the flower which are green in most blossoms, are scarlet as a 

 cardinal's robe in this. If we glance at a flower stalk, we see that at its 

 tip it looks like a braided, flattened cone; this appearance is caused by 

 the scarlet, long-pointed iDracts, each of which covers, with its bulging 

 base, the scarlet calyx which in turn enfolds the scarlet flower bud. 

 These bracts fall as the flowers are ready to open, making a brilliant 

 carpet about the plant. Each flower stem continues to develop buds at 

 its tip for a long season; and this, taken together with its scarlet bracts 

 and flowers, renders the salvia a thing of beauty in our gardens, and 

 makes it cry aloud to pollen-carriers that here, even in late autumn, there 

 is plenty of nectar. 



LESSON CLXII 

 Salvia, or Scarlet Sage 



Leading thought — This flower has the bracts and calyx scarlet instead 

 of green, and this makes it a brilliant mass of color to please our eyes and 

 attract the pollen-carrying insects. Its anthers are arranged at the tip of 

 two levers, which the insects push up and down as they enter the flower, 

 thus becoming dusted with pollen. 



Method — The structure of this flower may be studied in the schoolroom 

 and its mechanism there understood ; but the most important part of the 

 lesson is the observation out-of-doors upon the way the bees work the 

 stamen levers when seeking the nectar. This is best observed during late 

 September or October, after other flowers are mostly gone, and when the 

 bees are working with frantic haste to get all the hone}^ possible. 



Observations — i. How does the calyx of the salvia differ from that of 

 other flowers in color? How does it differ from the corolla in texture? 

 How many lobes has it? How are they placed about the corolla? 



2. what is the shape of the corolla? How does it make a hood over 

 the entrance to the tube ? What does the hood hold ? Is there any plat- 

 form made by the lower lip of the corolla for a visiting insect to alight 

 upon? 



3. Cut open one side of the corolla and describe how the stamens are 

 arranged. Thrust your pencil into an uninjured flower and see if the 

 anthers in the hood are moved by it. How? Describe how a bee in 

 visiting this flower moves the anthers so as to become dusted with pollen. 



4. Where is the stigma? How does it receive pollen from visiting 

 insects? Would it be likely to get the pollen which has just been scraped 

 off from its own anthers by the bee ? Why ? 



5. Experiment to find where the nectar is. Do you ever see bees 

 getting the nectar from fallen flowers? Do they get it from the "front" 

 or the "backdoor?" 



6. What other parts of this flower are red, which in other flowers are 

 green? How does this make the budding portions of the flower stem 

 look? Why does this make the salvia a more beautiful plant for our 

 gardens? 



7. Compare the mechanism of the stamens of the scarlet sage with 

 the mechanism of the stamens of the common garden sage. 



