ESSENTIAL FLORAL LEAVES. 95 
hypogynous, perigynous, and epigynous are applied to stamens 
Epp: SE). 
crs may either be united together by their 
stalks (filaments) or by their thickened heads (anthers). In the 
former case they are termed mon-, di-, tri-, or polyadelphous, 
forming respectively one, two, three, or more than three groups. 
Monadelphous stamens are found in some papilionaceous flowers, 
as gorseand broom. ‘The lower parts of the ten filaments are here 
united into a tube which surrounds the gynecium. A somewhat 
similar state of things exists in mallow and hollyhock. Many 
papilionaceous flowers exemplify the diadelphous condition. Exa- 
mination, for example, of clover, bird’s-foot trefoil, pea, or bean 
will show that the staminal tube is formed by the bases of 
nine filaments only, while the remaining upper or posterior 
stamen is free. The only British examples of more numerous 
groups of stamens are the St. John’s worts. The andrecium is 
here commonly said to be triadelphous or polyadelphous, although, 
as stated above, it is really an example of branching. 
The stamens are synantherous or syngenesious when their anthers 
cohere together into a cylinder. This is the case in the large group 
of Composites, of which dandelion, daisy, thistle, sunflower, dahlia, 
and groundsel are common examples. Pull off, for instance, one 
of the disk florets from a single dahlia (double or quilled ones 
have become abnormal by cultivation), and hold it up to the light. 
Projecting from the mouth of the five-toothed tubular corolla is 
a thickened fork. This is the upper part of the gynccium. 
Within the upper part of the translucent corolla is a dark rod- 
like body, the united anthers, surrounding the middle of the 
gyncecium, and below this are some wavy threads, the filaments 
(cf. p. 126). By tearing open the corolla with needles these 
points can be made out more clearly. The same thing can be 
seen with greater difficulty in the much smaller florets of dande- 
lion, &e. (fig. 44). In lobelia the stamens are both synantherous 
and monadelphous. Something similar takes place in the male 
flowers of cucumber and vegetable marrow. 
Adhesion.—Stamens are sometimes united to the petals of a 
polypetalous corolla, as is the case with the inner five stamens 
of bladder-campion, and very frequently to the tube of a gamo- 
petalous corolla, as in foxglove, dead nettle, primrose, speedwell, 
and snapdragon. In either case they are termed epipetalous. 
Split open a foxglove bell, and you will find the filaments of the 
four stamens partly free and partly represented by prominent 
ridges running down to the attachment of the corolla. 
Far more rarely there is adhesion between stamens and carpels. 
The commonest examples of this are orchids, where the single 
