236 OEGANOGRAPHY. 



also occurs. In the Fuchsia, Lily, Grasses {fig. 488), &c., the 

 filaments are generally very long. 



In colour the filaments are usually white, but at other times 

 they assume vivid tints like the corolla ; thus in the Spiderwort 

 {Tradcscantia virginica), they are blue, in various species of 

 Ranunculus and (Enothera, yellow, in some Poppies, black, in 

 Fuchsia, red, &c. 



In direction the filaments and consequently the stamens are 

 either erect, incurved, recurved, pendidous, &c. ; these terms being 

 used in their ordinary acceptation. When the filaments are all 

 turned towards one side of the flower, as in the Horse Chestnut 

 and Amaryllis, they are said to be declinate. Grenerally speak- 

 ing, the direction is nearly the same from one end of the fila- 

 ment to the other, but in some cases the original direction is 

 departed from in a remarkable manner, and the upper part of the 

 filament forms an angle more or less obtuse with the lower, the 

 filament is then termed geniculate, as in Mahernia. This ap- 

 pearance sometimes arises from the presence of an articulation 

 at the point where the angle is produced, as in Euphorbia 

 {fig. 495). In such a case, or whenever an articulation exists 

 on the apparent filament, this is not to be considered as a true 

 filament, but to consist in reality of a fiower-stalk supporting 

 a single stamen. The flower here, therefore, is reduced to a stalk 

 bearing a single stamen, all the parts except it being abortive. 

 This is proved by the occasional production in some allied plants 

 of one or more whorls of the floral envelopes at the point 

 where the joint is situated. In the Pellitory the filament assumes 

 a spiral direction. 



The filament usually falls off from the thalamus after the in- 

 fluence of the pollen has been communicated to the carpel. In 

 rare cases, as in the species of Campanula, the filament is 

 persistent, and remains attached to the ovary in a withered 

 condition. 



Fia 496 ^* '^•^^ Anther. — Its Development, and 



. ^' ' Structure. — Like the leaf, the anther is 



first developed as a little protuberance 

 formed of parenchymatous cells, the apex 

 being formed first, and the whole com- 

 pleted like the lamina of the leaf before 

 the formation of the filament or stalk. At 

 first the cellular protuberance is solid 

 {fig. 496), and exhibits no appearance of 

 cavities apart from those common to all 

 cellular structures ; at an early age, how- 

 ^'^/fyoT^nf autTefo'f ever, we may observe the formation of an 

 the Melon, ce. Cells epidermal layer ce, surrounding the mass 

 for,Sug'l:re"fleS of Cellular substance ci in its interior. As 

 layer, ci Internal cells, growth advances the cellular mass be- 

 Frorn Maout. comes altered at certain points, usually at 



