- Description:
Stems are erect and square. Leaves are lance-shaped to linear and opposite. Showy
blue, two-lipped flowers are borne on a spike at the top of the plant.
- Comments:
Long-tongued bees, especially bumble bees, use the broad lower lip as a landing
platform. As it probes the flower tube for nectar, the bee pushes against the lower end of
a see-saw-like structure containing pollen, causing the upper end of the see-saw to sweep
down and deposit the pollen on the bee’s back. Pollination occurs when the bee moves
to another flower and pollen from the bee’s back is brushed off onto the female part
of the flower. The waving, blue flowers of Blue Sage are found in the eastern
three-quarters of Kansas on upland prairies, roadsides and pastures.
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