GROUP V. AXGIOSPERM.E. 



461 



plant, the Sage, the further peculiarity is exhibited that one- 

 half of the anther is abortive and is modified for another purpose. 

 It is only rarely, as in Herb Paris (Fig. 277 (7), that the con- 

 nective is prolonged beyond the anther into a point, or into a 

 bristle as in the Oleander. 



FIG. 276. Stamen : .4, Of Lilium : s fila- 

 ment ; a the dorsiflxed anther. A., Side 

 view. B Of Tilia : c connective. C Of 

 Salvia, with dorsifixed versatile anther: 

 b is the half of the anther that has been 

 modified. J) Transverse section of the 

 anther of Hypericnm (mag.) : p the 4 

 pollen-sacs ; c connective. 



FIG. 277. A Stamen of Allium. H 

 Of Faccinium Xyrtillus. C Of Part* 

 quadrifolia (mag.) : / filament; c 

 connective ; o anther; b appen- 

 dages ; p the pores by which the 

 anther opens. 



The filament is usually round and stalk-like, of a delicate 

 coloured or colourless tissue, with a central vascular bundle ; it is 

 occasionally flattened ; when it is very short or absent the anthers 

 are sessile. 



In some plants, e.g. Allium (Fig. 277 .4), the filament has 

 what appear to be stipular appendages ; in others, e.g. Erica (Fig. 

 277 B\ the anther is furnished with appendages, such as spurs 

 and so forth : in Viola, the spurs borne by the two anterior sta- 

 mens are glandular. In certain plants the stamens, that is to 

 say the filaments, branch ; either, like most leaves in a plane 

 perpendicular to the median plane, as in Myrtaceae and Fu- 

 mariaceae, or in various planes, as in Ricinus (Fig. 278) and 

 Hypericacese ; an anther is borne on each of the branches of the 

 filament. 



Somewhat similar in appearance, but essentially different in 

 structure are the coherent stamens of the Papilionese and other 



