Pollination is a mutualistic relationship where both the plant and the pollinators benefit each other. As the largest genus in the Lamiaceae, the pollination ecology of the Salvia received much attention from ecological researchers.

Dr. Zhang Bo and his supervisor Prof. Li Qingjun of XTBG conducted a two-year study in Lijiang, Yunnan and explored possible ecological functions of the lever-like stamens and the floral design in Salvia cyclostegia.

By removing either the lower lever arms or the upper fertile thecae of the two stamens from a flower, the researchers experimentally manipulatedflower structure. The two types of manipulated individuals were intermixed with the control ones and randomly distributed in the population.

Their research concluded that though the intact flowers demand a long handling time for pollinators, the reversible staminal lever is of advantage by promoting dispersal of pollen and thus the male function. The particular floral design in S. cyclostegia contributes to the floral constancy of B. personatus bumble-bees, with the lower lever arms acting as an optical cue for foraging cognition.

The study entitled “Functional implications of the staminal lever mechanism in Salvia cyclostegia (Lamiaceae)” has been published online in Annals of Botany,

doi. 10.1093/aob/mcr011