THE WALLFLOWER 109 



o. Stamens 



The six stamens together constitute the andrcecium, 

 or fertilising apparatus of the flower. Each stamen, as 

 we already know, consists of two parts -a stalk or fila- 

 ment, and an anther borne upon it. The stamens, like 

 the other floral organs, are known by their develop- 

 ment to be leaves, but their vegetative structure is 

 much simplified in comparison with a foliage-leaf, or 

 even with a sepal or petal. We regard them as much 

 modified leaves, which have no vegetative functions to 

 perform. The filament is traversed by two vascular 

 bundles, having two small xylem groups turned 

 towards the inner surface, and two larger united 

 phloem groups on the outer side. The vascular 

 tissue is surrounded by an endodermis. The meso- 

 phyll is of uniform structure all through. The 

 epidermis of the filament has neither hairs nor 

 stomata, but the latter occur on the anther. The 

 filament tapers at the top, and is attached to the 

 anther by a narrow neck. The anther may be com- 

 pared to the blade of an ordinary leaf, but it shows 

 little trace of the structure of a vegetative lamina, for 

 its functions are entirely reproductive. It is, however, 

 traversed by a midrib (the connective), which forms a 

 direct prolongation of the filament. The connective 

 has a single vascular bundle, which is continuous with 

 the two bundles of the filament (see Fig. 39, v.b). 



The anther, when nearly ripe, is divided lengthways 

 into two halves or lobes, with the connective between 

 them (see Fig. 39, and compare Figs. 9, 10, and 11, 

 pp. 19-21). 



