ARRANGEMENT OF STAMENS. 



21 



or lobes. The position of these ridges is opposite to that of the petals. 

 Often there appear to be two rows of stamens on each ridge, one on 

 either side. All of the filaments are usually bent in the direction of 

 the twist of the petals and stigmas of the same flower. 



The staminal column is reckoned by botanists as one of the peculiar 

 characteristics of the mallow family, to which the cotton belongs. 

 Some of the relatives of the cotton have only 5 or 10 stamens and 

 little or no development of the staminal column. Abnormal cotton 

 flowers are sometimes found with the column very short or split to 

 the base into five separate lobes that may represent as many original 

 stamens. On some plants all gradations may be found between this 

 form of separate short lobes bearing few stamens, sometimes only 

 two, and the 

 elongated col- 

 umn of ridges 

 bearing an in- 

 definite num- 

 ber of stamens. 



In other 

 words, the 

 staminal col- 

 umn mav be 

 looked upon as 

 composed of 

 the united fila- 

 ments or bases 

 of the many 

 stamens that 

 are separated 

 only at the end. 

 The presence of 

 partly divided 

 anthers and of 



branched filaments, bearing two, three, or four anthers, also suggests 

 the possibility that the large number of stamens now present in a 

 normal cotton flower may have been attained by the subdivision or 

 branching of an originally small ring of stamens. This would explain 

 why the staminal tube has been developed as a common base for all 

 the stamens instead of having them separately inserted, as in most 

 of the families of plants that have numerous stamens. 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE CARPELS. 



The number of stigmas of the cotton flower is the same as that of 

 the carpels, or ''locks," of the ripe seed pod or "boll." In contrast 



Fig. 8. — Flower of Upland cotton, from above, showing the xwsition of petals, 

 stigmas, and stamens. (Natural size.) 



