ANGIOSPERMS. 
The AndrcEcium is composed of the assemblage of the male sexual organs of a 
flower. Each separate organ is called a Stamen, and consists of the Anther and its 
stalk the Filament, which is usually filiform, but sometimes expanded like a leaf. 
The anther consists of two longitudinal halves (anther-lobes) placed on the upper 
part of the filament right and left of its median line ; and the portion of the filament 
which bears the lobes of the anthers is distinguished as the Connective. 
The lateral position of the stamens on the floral axis (the receptacle) is quite 
unmistakeable in all hermaphrodite and in most exclusively male flowers. Their 
lateral position, their exogenous origin from the primary meristem next the punctum 
vegetationis of the floral axis, their acropetal order of development, and the frequent 
monstrosities in which the stamens assume more or less the nature of petals, or even 
of foliage-leaves ^ place it beyond doubt that they must be considered morpho- 
logically as foliar structures, and make it convenient to term them Staminal Leaves ; 
the filament, together with the connective, being considered as the leaf, of which 
the two anther-lobes are appendages. From a morphological point of view it is 
therefore indifferent whether the filament greatly preponderates in size, or is incon- 
siderable as compared to that of the anther. Certain cases have, however, become 
known in which the anther appears itself to be a product of the floral axis, and the 
stalk, which corresponds to the filament, is the floral axis itself, but doubts suggest 
themselves as to the accuracy of these observations and as to the correctness of their 
interpretation. According to Magnus ^ the vegetative cone of the male floral axis 
of Naias becomes transformed into a quadrilocular anther by the formation of 
pollen-mother-cells in four peripheral longitudinal strips of its tissue. Kaufmann 
had previously described a somewhat similar process in the case of the anther of 
Casuarina ; and, according to Rohrbach ^, the apex of the floral axis of Typha 
either itself developes into the anther, or it first of all branches and then forms an 
anther on each branch. Schenk asserts in a letter, that this latter statement is 
erroneous ; according to his observations the stamens are developed like those of 
the Compositae on the margin of the shallow depression at the apex of the parent 
axis. The question as to the nature of the organs bearing the anthers in the 
Euphorbieae, whether they are modified branches (caulomes) or leaves, is discussed 
in a considerable literature which does not, however, lead to any decision\ Even if, 
as Warming states, the single anther of Cyclanthera is developed at the apex of the 
floral axis, this central organ is not necessarily a caulome any more than the axillary 
sporangia of many Lycopodieae. The true significance of such cases as these 
cannot be arrived at from a study of development alone, but comparisons must be 
instituted, as also in those cases in which complete abortion of certain parts of the 
flower occurs, with nearly related forms, that is, the ' phylogenetic method ' must be 
followed. These remarks apply also to the above-mentioned peculiarities of the 
anther in Naias and Casuarina ^. 
^ [On ' phyllody' and ' petalody' of stamens see Masters, Vegetable Teratology, Ray Soc, 1869, 
pp. 253-256, and 285-296.] 
2 Magnus, Bot. Zeitg. 1869, p. 771. 
3 Rohrbach, in Sitzungsber. der Gesellsch. naturf. Freunde in Berlin, Nov. 16, 1869. 
* Warming, in Hanstein's Bot. Abhandl. Bd, II, 
^ [See also Magnus, Beitr. z. Kennt, d. Gatt. Naias, Berlin, 1870. — Strasburger, Die Coniferen 
