THE AXGIOSPERAIAE 



1 191 



have large petaloid connectives, joined edgewise into a hood which extends 

 far up above the anthers into two long hairy points. Inside this hood are 

 the two anthers of the hooded stamens themselves, spirally wound and 

 attached lengthwise to the edges of the hood. Inside is also the trans- 

 versely placed anther of the single fertile stamen of the outer whorl, which 

 is inserted under the lower edge of the hood. 



As examples of staminal forms which appear to be governed by syste- 

 matic relationships rather than by pollination requirements, may be cited 

 the flat-headed stamens of some groups in the Annonaceae and the long 



Fig. 1 165. — Primitive undifferentiated stamens with adaxially attached pollen-sacs and 

 branched or multiple \ascular supply. A, Austrobaileya. B, HimatUandra. C, Degeneria. 

 D, Magnolia. (After Cauright.) 



spear-headed stamens of certain other groups in that family. There are 

 also the sinuate stamens of Cucurbitaceae and the fascicled stamens of 

 several families already mentioned, as well as other instances. In the 

 magnolian alliance of families, broad, strap-shaped stamens are the rule, 

 with no distinction of filament and connective and with the sporangia adnate 

 on the inner surface (Fig. 1 165). This is particularly well illustrated by the 

 members of two families, Winteraceae and Himantandraceae, allied to the 

 Magnoliaceae; by Degeneria, an isolated Fijian genus, with many primitive 

 characters, in the stamens of which the sporangia are actually immersed 

 in the flattened body; and finally by Sarcandra (Chloranthaceae), which 

 belongs to the Pepper order (Piperales) (Fig. 1166). 



Petaloid stamens are usually abnormalities and are generally connected 

 with " doubling " in the flower, but in some spiral flowers they are con- 



