The male component of a flower, made up of several * stamens and sometimes also staminodes. The androecium usually surrounds the * gynoecium, although the exact arrangement or position may not be symmetrical in the more advanced forms. The androecium is described as apostemonous when the stamens are separate, monadelphous when the filaments are all fused, and syngenesious when the anthers are fused. If the stamens form two groups, the members of each group being joined by their filaments, the androecium is diadel-phous and if three or more groups are formed in this way, polydelphous. Petalostemonous describes the condition where the filaments are joined to the petals. The androecium is represented in the floral formula by the letter A. |
