ESSENTIAL ORGANS. STAMENS. 197 



times that the surface of the anther presents excrescences in the 

 form of warts, awl-shaped pointed bodies (fig. 335 a), or crests (fig. 

 339 a). 



407. That part of the anther to which the filament is attached, and 

 which is generally towards the petals, is the back, the opposite being 

 thejface. The division between the lobes is marked on the face of the 

 anther by a groove or furrow, and there is usually on the face, a 

 suture, indicating the line where the membranous coverings open to 

 discharge the pollen. The suture is often towards one side in con- 

 sequence of the valves being unequal. 



408. The anther-lobes are united either by a direct prolongation of 

 the filament, or more generally by a body called the connective, con- 

 sisting of a mass of cellular tissue different from that contained in the 

 filament. In this tissue the spiral vessels of the latter terminate. 

 From the connective a partition or septum extends across each antherine 

 loculus, dividing it either partially or completely. The septum some- 

 times reaches the suture. When the filament is continuous with the 

 connective, and is prolonged so that the anther-lobes appear to be 

 united to it throughout their whole length, and lie in apposition and 

 on either side of it, the anther is said to be adnate or adherent (fig. 

 329); when the filament ends at the base of the anther, 



then the latter is innate or erect. In these cases the anther 

 is to a greater or less degree fixed. When, however, 

 the attachment is very narrow, and an articulation exists, 

 the anthers are then moveable, and easily turned by the 

 wind. This is well seen in what are called versatile (verto, 

 I turn) anthers, as in Tritonia, Grasses, &c. (figs. 260, 

 337), where the filament is attached only to the middle 

 of the connective ; and it may occur also in cases where 

 it is attached to the apex, as in pendulous anthers (fig. 

 340). 34 



409. The connective may unite the anther-lobes completely, or only 

 partially. It is sometimes very short, and is reduced to a mere point 

 (fig. 326), so that the lobes are separate or free. At other times it is 

 prolonged upwards beyond the lobes in the form of a point, as in 

 Acalypha (fig. 331 c); or of a feathery awn, as in Nerium, Oleander 

 (fig. 334) ; or of a conical or tongue-like process (figs. 341, 342 c) ; or 

 of a membranous expansion (fig. 343 c) ; or it is extended back- 

 wards and downwards, in the form of a spur, as in fig. 343 a; or 

 downwards, as in the case of the flaky appendage in Ticorea febrifuga. 

 In Salvia officinalis (fig. 333), the connective is attached to the fila- 

 ment in a horizontal manner, so as to separate the two anther-lobes, 

 and then it is called distractile (dis, separate, and traho, I draw). 



Fig. 340. Pendulous anther, I, of Pyrola rotundifolia. The anther is suspended from the 

 summit of the filament, /, and opens at its apex by two pores, p. 



