246 



PLANT LIFE. 



be staminate. Rarely a single stamen constitutes a flower. 

 Except for the crowding, the stamens are arranged like all the 

 other leaves of the plant, arising on the axis alternately, or 

 in one or more circles. The stamens exhibit great diversity 

 of form and size. Each usually consists of two parts, a stalk, 

 called the filament, bearing an enlarged portion, called the 

 anther. 



345. The filament may be long or short, slender or thick, 

 rounded or flattened. It may be entirely wanting, in which 

 case the anther is sessile. 



346. The anther is usually larger than the filament and 

 commonly two-lobed, having the sporangia located in the 

 thicker parts. The sterile tissue between the sporangia is 

 called the connective (fig. 262). This appears usually as a 

 mere continuation of the filament, but sometimes is prolonged 

 beyond the body of the anther, as an appendage (fig. 259). 



Fig. 260. 



Fig. 261 



Fig. 259. — Anther of the sweet violet (I'iola odor<ita), showing the connective pro- 

 longed into a triangular tip. Magnified about 5 diam.— After Kerner. 



Fig. 260. — Anther of thyme ( Thymus serpyllum), showing broad connective. Magni- 

 fied about 5 diam. — After Kerner. 



Fig. 261. — Anther of the sage {Salvia officinalis). Opposite a the filament proper is 

 jointed to the elongated connective which has one perfect anther-lobe on the upper 

 end ; on the other the sporangia do not develop. Magnified about 5 diam.— After 

 Kerner. 



It is sometimes broad, so that the sporangial lobes are widely 

 separated (fig. 260), and may even be so long and slender as 

 to seem a part of the filament (fig. 261). 



