ANGIOSPERMS. 54 1 



The Andrcecium is composed of the assemblage of the male sexual organs of a 

 flower. Each separate organ is called a Stamen^ and consists of the Anfher and its 

 stalk the Filament, which is usually filiform, but sometimes expanded like a leaf. 

 The anther consists of two longitudinal halves (anther-lobes) placed on the upper 

 part of the filament right and left of its median line ; and the portion of the filament 

 which bears the lobes of the anthers is distinguished as the Connective, 



The lateral position of the stamens on the floral axis (the receptacle) is quite 

 unmistakeable in all hermaphrodite and in most exclusively male flowers. Their 

 lateral position, their exogenous origin from the primary meristem next the punctum 

 vegetationis of the floral axis, their acropetal order of development, and the frequent 

 monstrosities in which the stamens assume more or less the nature of petals, or even 

 of foliage-leaves^, place it beyond doubt that they must be considered morpho- 

 logically as foliar structures, and make it convenient to term them Staminal Leaves ; 

 the filament, together with the connective, being considered as the leaf, of which 

 the two anther-lobes are appendages. From a morphological point of view it is 

 therefore indifferent whether the filament greatly preponderates in size, or is incon- 

 siderable as compared to that of the anther. Certain cases have, however, become 

 known in which the anther appears itself to be a product of the floral axis, and the 

 stalk, which corresponds to the filament, is the floral axis itself, but doubts suggest 

 themselves as to the accuracy of these observations and as to the correctness of their 

 interpretation. According to Magnus ^, the vegetative cone of the male floral axis 

 of Naias becomes transformed into a quadrilocular anther by the formation of 

 pollen-mother-cells in four peripheral longitudinal strips of its tissue. Kaufmann 

 had previously described a somewhat similar process in the case of the anther of 

 Casuarina ; and, according to Rohrbach^, the apex of the floral axis of Typha 

 either itself developes into the anther, or it first of all branches and then forms an 

 anther on each branch. Schenk asserts in a letter, that this latter statement is 

 erroneous ; according to his observations the stamens are developed like those of 

 the Compositae on the margin of the shallow depression at the apex of the parent 

 axis. The question as to the nature of the organs bearing the anthers in the 

 Euphorbiese, whether they are modified branches (caulomes) or leaves, is discussed 

 in a considerable literature which does not, however, lead to any decision"^. Even if, 

 as Warming states, the single anther of Cyclanthera is developed at the apex of the 

 floral axis, this central organ is not necessarily a caulome any more than the axillary 

 sporangia of many Lycopodieae. The true significance of such cases as these 

 cannot be arrived at from a study of development alone, but comparisons must be 

 instituted, as also in those cases in which complete abortion of certain parts of the 

 flower occurs, with nearly related forms, that is, the ' phylogenetic method ' must be 

 followed. These remarks apply also to the above-mentioned peculiarities of the 

 anther in Naias and Casuarina ^. 



* [On ' phyllody ' and ' petalody ' of stamens see Masters, Vegetable Teratology, Ray Soc. 1 869, 

 pp. 253-256, and 285-296.] 



2 Magnus, Bot. Zeitg. 1869, p. 771. 



2 Rohrbach, in Sitzungsber. der Gesellsch. naturf. Freunde in Berlin, Nov. 16, 1869. 



* Warming, in Hanstein's Bot. Abhandl. Bd. II. 



'•> [See also Magnus, Beitr. z. Kennt. d. Gatt. Naias, Berlin, 1870. — Strasburger, Die Coniferen 



