120 



MORPHOLOGY, OR COMPAEATIVE ANATOMY. 



Filament. The filament, in its usual condition, is a slender 

 thread-like stalk to the anther, and in this state is termed filiform. 

 Sometimes it is almost hair-like, and incapable of supporting the 



Fig. 225. Fig. 226. 



Fig. 223. 



1 



Fig. 224. 



Fig. 223. A stamen : a, the filament; b, the anther. 



Fig. 224. Corolla of Scrophularia laid open, showing the four didynamous stamens and the 



posterior barren one, or staminode. 

 Fig. 225. Stamen of Allium, with a trifld filament. 

 Fig. 226. Stamen of Paris quadrifotia with prolonged connective. 



weight of the anther, when it is capillary, as in the Grasses ; while 

 it is still more frequently thick at the base, diminishing gradually 

 upwards, so as to become awl-shaped or subulate. In a few in- 

 stances (Urtica) it is moniliform, or like a row of beads. In other 

 cases it is more or less expanded into a petaloid condition, as in 

 Erodium ; in Campanula it is expanded in this manner at the base. 

 Ornitliogalum has the filament dilated in this way throughout. 

 The dilated filament sometimes exhibits divisions : in Crambe it is 

 forked at the summit, the anther standing on one point ; in Allium 

 (fig. 225), Alyssum calycinum, Orniihoc/alum nutans, &c. the fila- 

 ment terminates in three teeth, the middle one bearing the anther; 

 and in Allium sativum one of the lateral teeth forms a kind of tendril. 



Branched Stamens. In some plants, as in Mallows, some 

 Myrtacese, Hypericum, &c., the stamens are very numerous and 

 are arranged in fascicles. The study of the development of these 

 fascicles shows that they are originally single organs, which become 

 subsequently divided or branched, so that the fascicle of stamens 

 in such a case may be compared to a divided or compound leaf. 

 Some of the divisions may be petaloid and sterile, others antheri- 

 ferous. 



Appendages of other kinds are also met with, such as a pair of 

 glandular processes, standing like stipules near the base, in Lau- 

 racea3 (fig. 233), a single spur in Rosemary ; while in Borago the 



