CHAPTER X. — THE STAMENS, OR ANDRCECIUM. 



79 



in others, as in Calaminth and Sage, Figs. 244 and 245, it is 

 broad, or strongly developed transversely, and separates rather 

 widely the two lobes ; in the latter the lobes are very wide apart, 

 and one of them becomes abortive, while the other remains fer- 

 tile ; in others still, as the Hollyhock, the connective disappears 

 and the two equal lobes become confluent into one, Fig. 246, and 

 in the Globe Amaranth of the gardens one of the ceils entirely 

 disappears, as well as the connective, while the other is attached 

 by its middle to the end of the filament, as in Fig. 247. Such an 

 anther, as the last, has been termed dimidiate. 



Fig. 245. 



Fig. 246. 



Fig. 247. 



Fig. 244. — Stamen of Calaminth, showing anther with broad connective, a. 



Fig. 245. — Stamen of Sage, with elongated connective hinged to the top of the filament. 

 One lobe of the anther, a, contains pollen, the other, b, is sterile. 



Fig. 246. — Stamen of Hollyhock, with anther lobes confluent. 



Fig. 247. — Stamen of Globe Amaranth, with anther consisting of but one lobe, and that 

 attached by its middle to the end of the filament. 



The Pollen. This commonly consists of fine, dust-like 

 particles, produced within the cells or loculi of the anthers. It 

 is for the production of this flower-dust that the stamens exist, 

 and when it is shed their work is done, and they usually wither 

 away. It is by the agency of these powdery particles that the 

 pistil is made to produce seed. Each pollen grain is commonly 

 a single cell with two walls, the outer, called the extine, thickened 

 and often peculiarly marked, the inner, called the intine, thin, 

 highly extensible, and inclosing a semi-fluid substance called the 

 fovilla. 



Some idea of the variety of forms of these grains may be 

 gained from an inspection of Figures 248 to 253 inclusive. Fig. 



