Sexual Reproduction in Plants
In the typical flower (that is, in the majority of flowering plant species) each flower has both carpels and stamens. In some species, however, the flowers are unisexual with only carpels or stamens. (monoecious = both types of flowers found on the same plant; dioecious = the two types of flower found only on different plants). A flower with only stamens is called androecious. A flower with only carpels is called gynoecious.
A flower having only functional stamens and lacking functional carpels is called a staminate flower, or (inaccurately) male. A plant with only functional carpels is called pistillate, or (inaccurately) female.
An abortive or rudimentary stamen is called a staminodium or staminode, such as in Scrophularia nodosa.
The carpels and stamens of orchids are fused into a column. The top part of the column is formed by the anther. This is covered by an anther cap.
Read more about this topic: Stamen
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