X] FILAMENT: ANTHER 85 



The filament is commonly slender and thread-like, 

 whence its name, e.g. Horse-chestnut, Honeysuckle, but 

 it may be flat and broad (Er odium) or dilated (Ornitho- 

 gallum), and many vary considerably in length ; when 

 absent, or nearly so (Cucurbito, Lilac, Mistletoe), the anther 

 is sessile or subsessile. Various appendages may occur, 

 laterally (Allium, Laurus), or on the axial face below, e.g. 

 Cuscuta, &c. ; or, like the hoods of Asclepias, outside and 

 above ; or spurred as in Viola and Ericaceae. 



The anther is commonly oblong and simple, but may 

 be linear, as in Grasses; or convolute, as in Cucurbita; 

 horned above or below, as in most Ericaceae, MelastomaceaB ; 

 or tapering to a point, as in Erica ; or bearded with hairs, 

 as in Hazel and Hornbeam. 



The connective is usually narrow, and stops somewhere 

 between the anther-lobes, but it is sometimes broad and 

 may be prolonged to a point or plume. In some LabiataB 

 it separates the two anther-lobes each at the end of a long, 

 nearly horizontal arm. 



The relations of position between anther and filament 

 are of importance in descriptions. In one extreme case 

 the whole length of the anther-lobes remains in contact 

 with the filament and connective, so that they are adnate, 

 or as if fixed laterally and by the whole length to the 

 stiff filament ; in the other extreme case the filament is 

 attached by so slender a point into the back or base of 

 the connective that the anther as a whole turns on this 

 as on a pivot, and dangles freely in the wind it is ver- 

 satile. Where the stiff filament tapers into the slender 

 connective, and so appears simply continued into the base 

 of the anther, the latter is innate or basifixed. In cases 

 where the filament appears fixed stiffly into the middle of 

 the back of the anther, the latter is dorsifixed. 



Associated with this is the direction of the anther- 



