OF THE POLLEN". 07 



idea of a filament or thread, t. 62 ; and Anemone, 

 t. 51, where they are numerous. They are com- 

 monly smooth, but sometimes, as in Vcrbascum, 

 t. 58, 59, bearded. In Melaleuca, Exot. Bot. 

 t. 36 and 50, they are branched ; and in Prunella, 

 Engl.'Bot. t. 961, forked, one point only bearing 

 an Anther. In Aristolochia, t. 398, they are want- 

 ing, and nearly so in Potamogeton, t. 376, c. 



The Anther is the only essential part of a Stamen. 

 It is generally of a membranous texture, consisting 

 of two cells or cavities, bursting longitudinally at 

 their outer edges, as in the Tulip. In Erica, t. 1013 

 15, it opens by pores near the summit, as in the 

 Potatoe-blossom Very rarely the Anther has four 

 cells, as Tetratheca, Bot. of N. Noll. t. 5, and 

 Evot. Bot. t. 20* 22. Sometimes it is ornamented 

 with a crest, as in many Erica 1 , and the genus 

 P'unis. See Mr. Lambert's splendid work. 



The Pollen, or Dust, is contained in the Anther, 

 from which it is thrown out chiefly in warm dry 

 weather, when the coat of the latter contracts and 

 bursts. The Pollen, though to the naked eye a 

 line powder, and light enough to be wafted along 

 by the air, is so curiously formed, and so various 

 in different plants, as to be an interesting and 

 popular object for the microscope. Each grain of 



* In this plate the engraver has by mistake expressed the section of 

 the anther, so as to lock more like a germen, thovigh the original 

 drawing was correct. 



