CUEIOSITIES OF YEGETABLE MOKPHOLOGY. 
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r numerously beset, still sbow tbeir purple hue at the spots where 
the cells join (fig. 3.) 
Common garden Sage leaves, and many other plants of the 
same family, have similar glands ; those of the Sage being white. 
, In the Coleus glands there is a tendency to division into four 
parts', shown in fresh specimens by the cross-like depression. 
: i In a Digitalis (foxglove) from Calcutta, four-celled glands 
containing a white material are very conspicuous. 
Let us now pass to another sort of structure, in which great 
; variety of development may be easily seen — namely, anthers 
with their filaments or stalks. Everybody notices anthers like 
1 ' those of lilies, with their abundance of coloured pollen ; but few 
1 think how the pollen is formed, and few investigate the struc- 
1 , ture of anthers that need the microscope for their elucidation. 
■ , Pollen grains are formed in special cells in the substance of the 
I ^ anther, and they must, when ready for their work, be able to 
( get out. This is usually accomplished by the bursting of the 
! 1 anther ; but very interesting exceptions are found. Fig. 5 
i ' shows the anthers of an Azalea ; twin bottles, with round mouths 
j I opening at the right time. From one of these bottles the 
' 1 pollen is in the act of escaping. 
I Anthers in this stage may be well preserved in cells with 
! ' glycerine jelly. Each filament carries a pair of bottles, and the 
; I figure shows them in two positions — with their mouths upwards 
1 I in one case, and downwards in the other. Both positions may 
' be seen in the living plant. 
Fig. 6 exhibits Ehododendron anthers. These, again, are 
pairs of long bottles composed of a very delicate membrane that 
splits lengthwise with great facility. The mouths of these 
j bottles are less firm and regular than those of the Azalea, that 
! are strengthened by a thick rim, and somewhat remind one of 
i moss capsules. 
In Berberis Darwinii* (fig. 7), the bottle form is aban- 
doned for a sort of box with a lid, which opens when the 
■ pollen is ripe. In this case each anther cell splits twice length- 
wise, and the lid is formed of a strip left in adhesion only at 
the top, and free to fall open. 
j In the Narrow Leaf Bay* (fig. 8), the box form again 
i occurs, much like that of the Berberis ; but *the filament, or 
I stalk of the anther, is furnished with two projecting wings, 
j supposed to be glandular. We shall have more to say 
1 about these wings presently, but will now advise the student 
to examine the anthers of various plants in different stages 
f of growth, making their sections in longitudinal and trans- 
verse directions, gently flattening them in a drop of water 
* The peculiarity is not confined to this species or variety. 
