Stamened

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Possessing the pollen-producing male reproductive parts of a flower, typically the slender filaments topped by anthers
2. Bearing the male organs of a flower that produce pollen, often describing blossoms with visible reproductive structures
3. Describing a flower that has male pollen-bearing parts, which are usually arranged around the central pistil

Etymology: "Stamened" is simply "stamen" with the suffix "-ed" added, and the suffix turns the noun into an adjective meaning "furnished with stamens." A stamen is the part of a flower that produces pollen, and the word itself comes from Latin, where "stamen" originally meant the warp threads of an upright loom, the fibres stretched lengthwise that the weaver's cloth was built around. Botanists borrowed that image because the stamen, with its slender filament and pollen-bearing anther, looks like a thread holding up something at its tip. The adjective therefore describes flowers that carry these pollen-producing organs. Its formation follows the usual English pattern of attaching "-ed" to a noun to describe a thing that has that noun, so a flower with many stamens can be called "stamened" in the same way a plant with petals is "petaled."

Synonyms: staminate

Antonyms: pistillate