g6 THE FLOWERING PLANT. 



gynandrous stamen is fused with the gyncecium, upon the top of 

 which it is perched. 



External Characters. — Examine carefully a buttercup stamen 

 (fig. 30). It presents two regions, a stalk or filament, and a 

 thickened head or anther. The latter possesses a grooved anther 

 lobe on either side, the two being separated by a continuation of 

 the filament, called the connective. Within the anther lobes a 

 yellow dust is formed, the pollen, which escapes by a longitudinal 

 slit formed on either side in the ripe anther. All the parts 

 described present different forms according to the plant exa- 

 mined. 



The filament may be very short or absent, when the anther is 

 sessile, as in the epipetalous stamens of primrose. If they are 

 long, the stamens may be exserted, i.e., project from the corolla. 

 Filaments are generally more or less slender, but they may be flat- 

 tened, as in some of the stamens of white waterlily. Appendages 

 or outgrowths are sometimes present. In the violet and pansy, 

 for example, there are five stamens, the anthers of which appear 

 at first sight to be united, though in reality only closely approxi- 

 mated. Carefully slit open the spur of the lower petal, when two 

 little white rods will be seen projecting into it. These, when 

 traced, prove to be outgrowths from the filaments of the two 

 lower stamens, close to their junction with the anthers. 



If the connective is a direct prolongation of the filament, the 

 anther is basifixed, and in that case its lobes are either lateral, 

 internal, or external ; and the descriptive terms innate, introrse, 

 and extrorse are used. The last two are included in the wider 

 meaning word adnate. It frequently happens that the filament 

 is attached to the back of the anther, which is then basifixed, 

 and if in this case the attachment is very loose, the anther can 

 swing freely about or is versatile, as in grasses (fig. 50) and 

 white lily. When the connective is narrow the anther lobes are 

 parallel, as in buttercup, but it may be broadened so as to make 

 the lobes divergent, e.g., in marjoram, dead nettle, and foxglove. 

 The connective may even form a sort of cross-bar, hinged upon 

 the filament. This state of things is seen in the meadow and 

 garden sages and an ornamental crimson form belonging to the 

 same genus (fig. 46). The androecium here consists of four 

 stamens, two of which are aborted or reduced to minute rudi- 

 ments, like the odd stamen of snapdragon. The connectives of 

 the other two are elongated, and bear a perfect anther lobe at 

 one end and an aborted one at the other. The connective does 

 not usually extend beyond the anther lobes, except in some few 

 cases, as in violet and pansy (fig. 51), where it forms an orange- 

 coloured triangular expansion in this position. 



