STRUCTURE OF FLOWERS. G5 



remain free they have a tooth projecting from the side 

 where they have a tendency to unite with the neigh- 

 bouring one. In the Gourd, of the five filaments, one 

 is most frequently free, at least at the base, and the 

 others intimately united in pairs. In the Fumaria and 

 the other genera of the same family, we find two parcels, 

 each bearing three anthers, of which the middle one has 

 two cells, and the two lateral one cell ; whence it might 

 be presumed that the real number of filaments is four, 

 united two and two. 



When the stamens are united by their anthers, they 

 bear the name of Synanthefous, or Syngenesious. 

 This phenomenon, although less varied than the pre- 

 ceding, presents also some differences ; in general it 

 takes place in all the anthers of the flower at the same 

 time, and their cohesion then forms a kind of ring 

 through which the style passes. In this case, the 

 anthers thus united are introse, opening by longitudinal 

 fissures; and the stigma, elongating in the interior of 

 the ring, receives the pollen of the anthers. This is 

 observed in the immense family of the Compositae and 

 Lobeliaceae. Sometimes the two cells of the anther, 

 being separated by the bifurcation of the filament, or an 

 elongation of the connectivum, each unites with the cell 

 of the neighbouring stamen, and thus form bilocular 

 parcels which might be taken for true anthers : this 

 singular conformation is presented in Stapelia, and per- 

 haps in the bilocular anther of the Fumariaceae. 



Finally, the third combination is that of the stamens 

 cohering both by their filaments and anthers. As yet 

 but a very small number of examples is known. Bar- 

 nadesia, a genus of the Compositae, has the filaments 

 united into a complete tube, and the anthers form a ring 

 with the cells opening internally : the Symphonieae (a 

 tribe or family between the Guttiferae and Meliaceae) 



VOL. II. F 



