224 ESSENTIAL ORGANS — STAMENS. 



(fig. 368 I) ; or at both base and apex, so as to be forked at each 

 extremity, as in Grasses (fig. 369). The cavities of the anther are 

 occasionally elongated so as to end in points (fig. 368 I). Sometimes 

 the lower part of the antherine cavities is obliterated, and they de- 

 generate into flattened appendages (fig. 370 a). It happens at times 

 that the surface of the anther presents excrescences in the form of 

 warts, awl-shaped pointed bodies (fig. 367 a), or crests (fig. 371 a). 



That part of the anther to which the filament is attached, and 

 which is generally towards the petals, is the back, the opposite being 

 the face. The division between the lobes is marked on the face of the 

 anther by a groove or furrow, and there is usually on the face a suture, 

 indicating the line where the membranous coverings open to discharge 

 the pollen. The suture is often towards one side in consequence of 

 the valves being unequal. 



The anther-lobes are united either by a direct prolongation of 

 the filament, or more generally by a body called the connective, con- 

 sisting of a mass of cellular tissue difierent from that contained in the 

 filament. In this tissue the spiral vessels of the latter terminate.' 

 From the connective a partition or septum extends across each antherine 

 loculus, dividitig it either partially or completely. The septum some- 

 times reaches thq suture. When the filament is continuous with the 

 connective, and is prolonged so that the anther-lobes appear to be 

 united to it throughout their whole length, and lie in apposition and 

 on either side of it, the anther is said to he adnate or adlierent (fig. 

 361); when the filament ends at the base of the anther, then the 

 latter is innate or erect. In these oases the anther is to a greater or 

 less degree fixed. When, however, the attachment is very narrow, 

 and an articulation exists, the anthers are then movable, and easily 

 turned by the wind. This is well seen in what are called versatile 

 (ven-to, I turn) anthers, as in Tritonia, Grasses, etc. (figs. 327, 369), 

 where the filament is attached only to the middle of the connective ; 

 and it may occur also in cases where it is attached to the apex, as in 

 pendulous anthers (fig. 372). 



The connective may unite the anther-lobes completely, or only 

 partially. It is sometimes very short, and is reduced to a mere point, 

 (fig. 358), so that the lobes are separate or free. At other times it 

 is prolonged upwards beyond the lobes in the form of a point, as in 

 Acalypha (fig. 363 c) ; or of a feathery awn, as in Nerium Oleander 

 (fig. 366) ; or of a conical or tongue-like process (figs. 373, 374 c) ; or 

 of a membranous expansion (fig. 375 c) ; or it is extended backwards 

 and downwards, in the form of a spur, as in fig. 375 a ; or downwards, 

 as in the case of the flaky appendage in Ticorea febrifuga. In Salvia 

 officiualis (fig. 365), the connective is attached to the filament in a 

 horizontal manner, so as to separate the two anther-lobes, and then 

 it is called distractile (dis, separate, traho, I draw). In Stachys, 



