ANDRCECIUM, OR STAMENS. 253 



Adnate, in which the connective appears to be a direct con- 

 tinuation of the filament, having the anther adherent to the 

 anterior or posterior face of it, and the lines of dehiscence 

 therefore looking inward or outward. Magnolia, Liriodendron 

 (Fig. 497), and Asarum (Fig. 499) furnish good examples ; the 

 latter conspicuously so, on account of a prominent prolongation 

 of the connective or tip of the filament. 



Versatile, when the anther is attached at some part only of its 

 back or front to the tip of the filament, on which in anthesis it 

 lightly swings ; as in Plantain, in all Grasses, the Lily, Evening 

 Primrose (Fig. 498) , &c. 



462. The direction to which an anther faces, whether inward 

 (toward the centre of the flower), or outward (toward the peri- 

 anth) , has to be considered ; except in the case of an innate 

 anther with strictly lateral or marginal dehiscence. An anther is 



Extrorse, i. e. turned outward, or Posticous, when it faces to- 

 ward the perianth, as in Magnolia and Liriodendron (Fig. 497), 

 Asarum (Fig. 499), and Iris ; these all being cases of adnate 

 and extrorse anthers, the cells attached for their whole length to 

 the outside of the summit of the filament or the connective. 



Introrse, i. e. turned inward, or Anticous, when it faces toward 

 the axis of the flower ; as in Nymphaeacese (Fig. 318), in Violet 

 and Lobelia (which are adnate and introrse) , and in GEnothera. 

 In the common Evening Primroses (as in Fig. 498) the anther 

 is fixed near the middle, introrse, and versatile. 



463. The direction in which the anther may be said to face, 

 outward or inward, depends upon two characters, which do not 

 always coincide, viz. the insertion or attachment of the cells, 

 and the position of their line of dehiscence. In such a strongly 

 characterized adnate anther as that of Liriodendron (Fig. 497), 

 both the attachment and the dehiscence are plainly posticous or 

 extrorse : in most species of Trillium, the cells are introrse as to 

 attachment, but some are nearly marginal and some are even 

 rather extrorse as to dehiscence : in the related Medeola, and in 

 Lilium, where the anthers are extrorsely affixed toward the base 

 or middle to a slender tip of the filament, the dehiscence is 

 either introrse or nearly marginal. Parnassia is in similar case ; 

 the anthers being clearly extrorse as to insertion and more or 

 less introrse as to dehiscence. 



464. Adnate anthers are perhaps as frequently extrorse as 

 introrse. Others, whether basifixed or medifixed, are more com- 

 monly introrse. Those fixed by the middle, or at any other 

 part of the back, and lying on the inner side of the filament, 

 are said to be Incumbent. 



