Question

Explain pollination in Salvia flowers.

Answer 1

Hint: salvia is the plant which belongs to the family lamiaceae, pollination in flower salvia is unusual type, and the mechanism of pollination in salvia flower is dorsal type, and this flower is good example for insect pollination

Complete answer:
The salvia flower consists of almost 1000 species where there are a lot of modifications in floral organs and pollination mechanisms.
> The mechanism behind the pollen transfer in the salvia flower is staminal lever mechanism.
> In salvia, stamens are modified to lever like structure where they have special role in the transfer of pollen
> The morphology of salvia flower and lever like stamens was first described by the scientists Hildebrand.
> The pollination in salvia is said to be dorsal or nototribic pollination, which means the pollen is deposited on the dorsal surface of the pollinator.
> In salvia, two monothetic stamens are modified into levers with thin ligament between the connective and the filament.
> Where they form the joint and divide them into upper and lower arms, which enables the stamen to transfer the pollen reversibly.
> The pollinator searching for the nectar pushes the lower lever arms and allows the pollen sac to be on the end of the upper lever arm which is useful to press against or onto the pollinator dorsal or head.
> Where pollinators transfer pollen to some other flower of the same species for pollination.

Additional information:
 In some countries the pollination mechanism of salvia is classified into 3 types such as
                         1. Type 1 is short lever type
                         2. Type 2 is long lever type
                         3. Type 3 is degraded lever type.

Note: There is a lot of structural and functional diversity in the flower salvia, where the presence of lever mechanism helps for the deposition of pollen and coordination with remaining floral structures may be considered as an innovative step for promoting adaptive radiation in the flower salvia.