146 COMPOUND ORGANS OF PLANTS. 



Filaments are usually of a white color, but occasionally 

 they take the same hues as the corolla. In Tradescantia Vir- 

 ginica, the spiderwort, the filaments are blue ; in the different 

 varieties of the Fuchsia or lady's ear-drop, they are red, and in 

 Ranunculus acris, yellow. 



The anther is generally situated at the summit of the fila- 

 ment, to which it is attached in a variety of ways. Sometimes 

 it adheres to the filament by its entire length, when it is said 

 to be adnate, as in Magnolia glauoa ; or its base rests directly 

 on the apex of the filament, when it is innate, as in Sangui- 

 sorba Canadensis, or burnet j or it may be attached by a point 

 to the apex of the filament on which it lightly swings, when it 

 is versatile, as in the grasses. 



The anther is the most essential part of the stamen. It con. 

 tains the pollen or fecundating matter, before the act of fecunda- 

 tion. It is most generally formed of two little pouches or cells 

 supported against each other by one of their sides, or united 

 together by an intermediate body, to which the name connec- 

 tivum or connective has been given. In this case the anther 

 is bilocular, (Ji's, twice, hculus, a pouch.) More rarely the 

 anthers are unilocular, as in the mallow, or quadrilocular, as in 

 Butomus umbellatus, the flowering rush ; a plant occasionally 

 met with in England in brooks and rivulets. 



The pollen or fecundating matter, when artificially removed 

 from the anther cells, looks to the naked eye like powdery 

 matter devoid of all organization, and is usually of a yellow 

 color; but it is also purple, blue, scarlet, black, and various 

 other shades. Placed beneath the microscope, this powder 

 resolves itself into a collection of spherical or oval grains, the 

 surfaces of which are generally smooth, but sometimes fur- 

 nished with strong points or bristles, as in the hollyhock, 



