stamens may be developed in the usual centripetal (acropetal) order, as in Rhamnaceae; or they may be interposed between the pre-existing ones or be placed outside them, i.e. develop centrifugally (basipetally), as in geranium and oxalis, when the flower is said to be obdiplostemonous. When the stamens are fewer than twenty they are said to be definite; when above twenty they are indefinite, and are represented by the symbol ∞. The number of stamens is indicated by the Greek numerals prefixed to the term androus; thus a flower with one stamen is monandrous, with two, three, four, five, six or many stamens, di-, tri-, tetr-, pent-, hex- or polyandrous, respectively.
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From Strasburger’s Lehrbuch der Botanik, by permission of Gustav Fischer. |
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Fig. 66.—Flowers of Aristolochia Clematitis cut through longitudinally. I. Young flower in which the stigma (N) is receptive and the stamens (S) have not yet opened; II. Older flower with the stamens (S) opened, the stigma withered, and the hairs on the corolla dried up. |
 Fig. 65.—Flower of Aralia in vertical section. c, Calyx; p, petal; e, stamen; s, stigmas. The calyx, petals and stamens spring from above the ovary (o) in which two chambers are shown each with a pendulous ovule; d, disc between the stamens and stigmas. |
The function of the stamen is the development and distribution of the pollen. The stamen usually consists of two parts, a contracted portion, often thread-like, termed the filament (fig. 25 f), and a broader portion, usually of two lobes, termed the anther (a), containing the powdery pollen (p), and supported upon the end of the filament. That portion of the filament in contact with the anther-lobes is termed the connective. If the anther is absent the stamen is abortive, and cannot perform its functions. The anther is developed before the filament, and when the latter is not produced, the anther is sessile, as in the mistletoe.
The filament is usually, as its name imports, filiform or thread-like, and cylindrical, or slightly tapering towards its summit. It is often, however, thickened, compressed and flattened in various ways, becoming petaloid in Canna, Marania, water-lily (fig. 32); subulate or slightly broadened at the base and drawn out into a point like an awl, as in Butomus umbellatus; or clavate, that is, narrow below and broad above, as in Thalictrum. In some instances, as in Tamarix gallica, Peganum Harmala, and Campanula, the base of the filament is much dilated, and ends suddenly in a narrow thread-like portion. In these cases the base may give off lateral stipulary processes, as in Allium and Alyssum calycinum. The filament varies much in length and in firmness. The length sometimes bears a relation to that of the pistil, and to the position of the flower, whether erect or drooping. The filament is usually of sufficient solidity to support the anther in an erect position; but sometimes, as in grasses, and other wind-pollinated flowers, it is very delicate and hair-like, so that the anther is pendulous (fig. 105). The filament is generally continuous from one end to the other, but in some cases it is bent or jointed, becoming geniculate; at other times, as in the pellitory, it is spiral. It is colourless, or of different colours. Thus in fuchsia and Poinciana, it is red; in Adamia and Tradescantia virginica, blue; in Oenothera and Ranunculus acris, yellow.
 Fig. 67.—Spikelet of Reed (Phragmites communis) opened out. a, b, Barren glumes; c, fertile glumes, each enclosing one flower with its pale, d; the zigzag axis (rhachilla) bears long silky hairs. |
Hairs, scales, teeth or processes of different kinds are sometimes times developed on the filament. In spiderwort (Tradescantia virginica) the hairs are beautifully coloured, moniliform or necklace-like, and afford good objects for studying rotation of the protoplasm. Filaments are usually articulated to the thalamus or torus, and the stamens fall off after fertilization; but in Campanula and some other plants they are continuous with the torus, and the stamens remain persistent, although in a withered state. Changes are produced in the whorl of stamens by cohesion of the filaments to a greater or less extent, while the anthers remain free; thus, all the filaments of the androecium may unite, forming a tube round the pistil, or a central bundle when the pistil is abortive, the stamens becoming monadelphous, as occurs in plants of the Mallow tribe; or they may be arranged in two bundles, the stamens being diadelphous, as in Polygala, Fumaria and Pea; in this case the bundles may be equal or unequal. It frequently happens, especially in Papilionaceous flowers, that out of ten stamens nine are united by their filaments, while one (the posterior one) is free (fig. 68). When there are three or more bundles the stamens are triadelphous, as in Hypericum aegyptiacum, or polyadelphous, as in Ricinus communis (castor-oil). In some cases, as in papilionaceous flowers, the stamens cohere, having been originally separate, but in most cases each bundle is produced by the branching of a single stamen. When there are three stamens in a bundle we may conceive the lateral ones as of a stipulary nature. In Lauraceae there are perfect stamens, each having at the base of the filament two abortive stamens or staminodes, which may be analogous to stipules. Filaments sometimes are adherent to the pistil, forming a column (gynostemium), as in Stylidium, Asclepiadaceae, Rafflesia, and Aristolochiaceae (fig. 66); the flowers are then termed gynandrous.
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| Fig. 68. | |
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| Fig. 69. | Fig. 70. |
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Fig. 68.—Stamens and pistil of Sweet Pea (Lathyrus). The stamens are diadelphous, nine of them being united by their filaments (f), while one of them (e) is free; st, stigma; c, calyx. | |
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Fig. 69.—Portion of wall of anther of Wallflower (Cheiranthus). ce, Exothecium; cf, endothecium; highly magnified. | |
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Fig. 70.—Quadrilocular or tetrathecal anther of the flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus). The anther entire (a) with its filament; section of anther (b) showing the four loculi. | |
The anther consists of lobes containing the minute powdery pollen grains, which, when mature, are discharged by a fissure or opening of some sort. There is a double covering of the anther—the outer, or exothecium, resembles the The anther. epidermis, and often presents stomata and projections of different kinds (fig. 69); the inner, or endothecium, is formed by a layer or layers of cellular tissue (fig. 69, cf), the cells of which
