stamen

stamen

the male reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of a stalk (filament) bearing an anther in which pollen is produced

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

stamen

[′stā·mən]

(botany)

The male reproductive structure of a flower, consisting of an anther and a filament.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Stamen

 

the reproductive organ of the flower of angiosperms in which the pollen grains are formed. The stamen is homologous to the microsporophyll. A typical stamen consists of an anther filament, which contains a vascular bundle, and an anther, the symmetrical halves of which are joined by a strand attached to the anther filament. Microspores are formed from the cells of the archesporium after meiosis. In each of the four nidi of the anther (microsporangia), the microspores sprout into male gametophytes—pollen grains. The aggregate of stamens of a flower is called the androecium. The stamens are arranged on the torus spirally (as in many Ranunculaceae) or in circles. Stamens arranged spirally may range from one to numerous; those arranged in a circle usually number from three to ten. Stamens may concresce with the anthers (Compositae), the filaments (legumes), or entirely (some Cucurbitaceae). They sometimes concresce with other parts of the flower, for example, the corolla (many sympetallous plants) or the pistil (some Orchidaceae).

A. N. SLADKOV

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.