176 



MANUAL OF BOTANY 



form of pointed bodies {Jjg.B57, a), as in Vacciniwm ul iginos uiii , 

 or warts, &c. Such anthers, like those which present appendages 

 from the connective, are termed appendiculate. 



Colour of the Anther. — The anther when young is of a 

 greenish hue, but when fully matured it is generally yellow. 

 There are, however, many exceptions to this : thus it is dark 

 purple or black in many Poppies, orange in Eschscholtnia, 

 purple in the Tulip, red in the Peach, &c. 



Dehiscence of the Anther. — When the anthers are perfectly 

 ripe the pollen-sacs or microsporangia split open and discharge 

 their contained poUen (fig. 359) ; this act is called the dehiscence 



Fig. 356 Fig. 35T. Flo. 358. 



Fig. 356. Appendiculate anther attached to filament,/, of the Pine-leaved 

 iileath (Erica cinerea). a. Appendage. /. Lobes, r. Lateral short slit 



where dehiscence takes place. Fig. 357. Bifurcate anther of Yacclniiim 



iiliginosum attached to filament, /. I. Anther-lobes, a. Appendages. 



p. Points of the anther-lobes where dehiscence takes place. Fig. 358. 



Quadrifurcate anther of Gaultheria procumhens, attached to filament, /. 

 I. Antlier-lobes. 



of the anther. Dehiscence commonly takes place in the line of 

 the sutures (fig. 344, h), and at the period when the flower is 

 fully expanded ; at other times, however, the anthers burst 

 before the flower opens. All the anthers may open at the same 

 period, or in succession ; and in the latter case the dehiscence 

 may either commence with the outer stamens, as is usually the 

 case, or rarely with the inner. 



The 'dehiscence of the anther may take place in four different 

 ways, which are respectively called : 1. Longitudinal ; 2. Trans- 

 verse ; 3. Porous ; 4. Valvular. 



1. Longitudinal or Sutural. — This, the usual mode of de- 

 hiscence, consists in the opening of each anther-lobe from the 

 base to the apex in a longitudinal direction along the line of 

 suture, as in the Vine (fig. 344, c) and Tulip (fig. 347). 



