Wild sage Salvia about to be pollinated by a bee. The bee has landed on the lower petal lip of the flower tube. It will climb up this petal in search of nectar deep in the flower. When it does so, a stigma and long white stamens hidden in the upper petal curl down to touch the abdomen of the bee. First the stigma touches (its forked tip can be seen at the end of the upper petal), and picks up pollen deposited on the bee by other flowers. Then stamens curl down and deposit their pollen on the bee. Salvia has evolved a sophisticated mechanism of pollination. [see B786/393 for a time-lapse photograph to follow this]