Staminal lever

Definition

A bee pushing into a salvia flower depresses a hinged plate, and the lever swings the anthers down to dust her back precisely where the next flower's stigma will touch. It is one of the most elegant pollination mechanisms in the plant world, and it is size-selective — small bees frequently slip through without triggering it at all.

Where the word gets used loosely

Long-tubed red salvias are hummingbird flowers in their native range and are largely robbed from the base outside it, so the mechanism does not fire and no pollination occurs.

Plant records that discuss this

• SageVery high nectar and only moderate pollen — sage feeds adult foragers superbly and contributes comparatively little to brood rearing, which is a common pattern in the mint family.