STAMENS 



STAMMERING 



675 



the fruit leaves, the carpels. But their position on 

 the axis, whether below the carpels, as is most 

 commonly the case, or on a level with them, or 

 above them, varies, and is used as a means of 

 classification. When they are inserted on the 

 thalamus ( flower receptacle ) below the carpels the 

 flower is said to be hypoqynous ; when, carried 

 upwards by the continued growth of the outer 

 part of the flower receptacle, they are inserted 

 on the same level as the carpels then the 

 flower is perigynous ; when, carried up still 

 farther, they are inserted above the carpels the 

 flower is epigynous. If the stamens are adherent 

 to the petals they are epipetalous, if adherent to 

 the pistil (united carpels) they are gynandrous. 

 If the filaments only are more or less coherent 

 ( Mallow )*he stamens are monadelphous ; if united 

 into two bundles (pea) they are diadelphtrus ; if only 

 the anthers cohere then the stamen is synanther- 

 ous. The stamens vary in number from a single 

 one in a flower to as many as several hundreds. 

 These variations also are used in classification. 

 When the stamens are definite, few (five to ten) in 

 number, the individuals are inserted one opposite 

 each of the petals, or each of the sepals, or one 

 opposite all of them. If they are less in num- 

 ber than the petals or sepals of the flower, then 

 their position varies. Wnen there is more than 

 one whorl of stamens then the individuals of each 

 whorl alternate with the individuals of the next 

 whorl below it. Often the full number of stamens, 

 that comparison with other flowers of the same 

 order would lead us to expect, is not present ; but 

 usually aborted traces of them may be seen. 

 Thus the Scrophularije are peculiar in having only 

 four stamens, but the fifth is represented by a 

 minute scale. Remnants of this description are 

 called staminodei. 



The stamens are commonly said to be meta- 

 morphosed leaves. But, since a leaf is defined 

 as an appendage of the axis or stem, this state- 

 ment is only an assertion of the general hom- 

 ology, or similarity of origin, of the two kinds 

 of appendages. Often, too, stamens are said 

 to be altered flower-leaves i.e. petals. But 

 this is a case of putting the cart before the horse. 

 Stamens very commonly become petaloid, as for 

 instance when a flower becomes ' double ' under 

 cultivation, and in a few cases in the natural state, 

 the white water-lily for instance. In all such cases 

 there may be seen in the same blossom a complete 

 series of transition forms between stamens and 

 petals. This indicates the homolpgy of the two 

 kinds of appendages, but of itself gives no evidence 

 as to which form is the precursor of the other. 

 But the fact that the Gymnosperms ( q. v. ), conifers, 

 for example, which are older forms and are less 

 highly developed than the true flowering plants, have 

 stamens but not petals, shows that the petals of 

 the Phanerogams are derived from stamens, and not 

 the stamens from the petals. The further facts 

 that the characteristic colour of stamens is yellow, 

 and that the simplest, lowest flowering plants have 

 yellow flowers, is another piece of evidence that 

 leads to the same conclusion. 



The anther which contains the fertilising pollen 

 is the essential part of a stamen. The pollen is set 

 free by the splitting dehiscence of tlie anthers. 

 The mode of dehiscence is sometimes characteristic 

 of the plant. Tims the anthers of the Rhododendra 

 open and shed their pollen through a small circular 

 pore at the upper end of each lobe ; and in a few 

 cases the dehiscence is transverse, or across the 

 anther. But the most usual mode of dehiscence 

 is by a longitudinal slit in each lobe, either on the 

 inner or outer face of the anther. 



The time at which the stamens dehisce rela- 

 tively to the ripening of the stigma is important. 



For if the anther dehisces when the stigma is 

 ready to receive pollen then the flower may be self- 

 fertilised ; but if it does not open at that time 

 then self-fertilisation will be impossible, or nearly 

 so, and that flower must be cross-fertilised. Stamens 

 present numerous modifications of form that are 

 apparently adaptations to the process of fertilisation. 



See Sir John Lubbock's Flowers in their Relation to 

 Insects ( ' Nature ' aeries, 1875 ) ; Kerner's fjtaiizenleben 

 (vol. ii. 1891). 



Stamford. a municipal borough chiefly in 

 Lincolnshire, but partly also in Northamptonshire, 

 on the Welland, 12 miles WNW. of Peterborough. 

 Heugist is said to have here defeated the Picts and 

 Scots in 449, and Stamford thereafter is notable as 

 one of the Danish ' live burghs,' as having been 

 visited by at least thirteen sovereigns ( from Edward 

 the Elder in 922 to Queen Victoria in 1844), for the 

 persecution of its Jews (1190), as having between 

 1266 and 1334 only missed becoming a rival to 

 Oxford, for its colony of Flemish Protestants 

 (1572), as the birthplace of the earliest provincial 

 newspaper, the Stamford Mercury (1695), and for 

 its famous bull-running on 13th November from 

 King John's time until 1839. It has lost ten of its 

 sixteen churches, an Eleanor Cross, two castles, 

 six religious houses, and two hospitals. Existing 

 edifices are St Mary's, with a fine spire, All 

 Saints, with a fine tower and steeple, St Martin's 

 with Lord Burghley's grave and, in the church- 

 yard, Daniel Kimbert's, a town-hall (1777), corn 

 exchange (1859), literary institute (1842), bridge 

 (1849), Browne's Hospital (15th century), and 

 boys' and girls' high schools ( 1874-76). ' Burghley 

 House, by Stamford town,' is a magnificent Re- 

 naissance pile, dating from 1575, with a noble park, 

 carvings by Grinling Giblwns, and a great collection 

 of pictures. The trade and industries are mainly 

 agricultural. Chartered by Edgar in 972, and 

 afterwards by Edward IV., "Stamford was a parlia- 

 mentary borough, but lost one of its two members 

 in 1867 and the other in 1885. For good ser- 

 vices rendered by the inhabitants at the oattle of 

 Loose-coat-field (in 1469) the town seal bears the 

 royal arms. Pop. ( 1851 ) 8933 ; ( 1891 ) 8358. 



See works by Butcher (1646), Howgrave (1726), Peck 

 (1727; new ed. 1785), Drakard (1822), Sharp (1847), 

 Walcott ( 1867 ), and Nevinson ( 1879). 



Stamford, a town of Connecticut, on Long 

 Island Sound, 33 miles by rail NE. of New York. 

 It has a handsome town-hall, and the hills around 

 are embellished with the summer residences of 

 well-to-do New Yorkers. Steamboats ran daily to 

 New York. There are iron and bronze foundries, 

 and manufactories of hats, drugs, sashes and 

 blinds, and Yale locks (see LOCK, p. 680). Stam- 

 ford was settled in 1641. Pop. (1880) 11,297; 

 (1890) 15,700. 



Stamford Bridge, a small town in the East 

 Riding of Yorkshire, on the river Derwent, 9J 

 miles NE. of York by rail. It was the scene of 

 the great victory of King Harold (q.v.) over the 

 invading Norwegians under Harold Haarfager. 



Stammering, or STUTTERING, is an infirmity 

 of speech, the result of failure in co-ordinate 

 action of certain muscles and their appropriate 

 nerves. It is analogous to some kinds of lame- 

 ness ; to cramp or spasm, or partial paralysis of 

 the arms, wrists, hands, and lingers, occasionally 

 suffered by violinists, pianists, and swordsmen ; 

 to the scrivener's palsy, or writer's cramp, of men 

 who write much. For speech like writing, fenc- 

 ing, fingering a musical instrument, and walking 

 is a muscular act involving the co-ordinate action 

 of many nerves and muscles. 



The words stammering and stuttering practically 

 denote the same infirmity. Any distinction that 



