60 MEMBERS OF PLANTS. 



reproduction. A stamen consists in most cases of a 

 filament *, usually white ; and always of an anther 2 , 

 usually yellow or purple, composed of two lobes with 

 a furrow between them, as may be seen in sage and 

 balm, containing small fructifying grains termed pollen. 

 M. Duval has shown that the stamens are always next 

 to the petals ; that is, between their base and the base 

 of the seed organ; and that botanists are therefore 

 wrong in saying they are inserted into the flower-cup, 

 the blossom, or the pistil, even when they obviously 

 are thus inserted. 



Stamen. a, the filament; b, the anther. 



The number and arrangement of the stamens are 

 of indispensable utility in systematic arrangements, as 

 will be seen when we come to the systems of Linnaeus 

 and Jussieu. 



The Disc. 



Between the base of the filaments of the stamens 

 and the seed organ we often find an expansion, winch 

 Linnaeus called a nectary, as he did every part of a 

 flower which he could not understand. We may call 



(l) In Latin, Filamentum. (2) lnl&tin t Anthera. 



