Pollination. Sage flower, Salvia sp., being pollinated by a honeybee, Apis mellifera. This plant has evolved a sophisticated mechanism of cross-pollination. In the process of nectar feeding, the bee exerts a weight on the lower petal lip of the flower tube. First, a long forked stigma (visible at the end of the upper petal) curls down to touch the body of the bee, and picks up pollen deposited on the bee by other flowers. Then long white stamens hidden inside the upper petal curl down and deposit their pollen on the bee.