Salvia dentata flower

This Salvia dentata flower has its brightest blue on the outside of the upper lip where dishevelled hairs abound. The usually more attractive inside surfaces of a corolla in other flowering species is still prettily blue here, but duller than the outside.

The upper lip is narrow, hooded and curving down. The lower lip has two dangling upper lobes, smaller than the lower ones that spread like an ample apron notched at its base and covering a grandmother’s lap. Can you see the grandmother sitting with spreading skirts and bent, bonneted head completing her tapestry? Its design has a narrow white patch in the centre of the lower lip with dark blue markings resembling a handwritten message.

S. dentata flowers may also be pale lavender or mauve in colour. The stamens are arched roundly, well below the upper lip. Their dark anthers face down, appearing attached below the top bits of their filaments (Manning, 2009; Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist).