botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, the connective is the portion of sterile (i.e. nonreproductive) tissue of the

anther The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

between and interconnecting the two thecae, which forms a body with them and holds them together. It is usually underdeveloped and it is subject to great diversity of form, causing the thecae to protrude prominently. In some primitive angiosperms, the entire

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

may be more or less foliaceous, and the connective may be highly developed, causing the thecae to be widely separated. It appears to be analogous to the midrib of a

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

, and is only absent when an anther is strictly one-celled; that is to say, when the whole of the interior of the end of the stamen is converted into

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

. In some cases, the tissue has appendages of various shapes that are of structural importance (e.g., in the

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae () is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs ...

or Prostantheroideae).

References

Plant morphology Flowers {{plant-morphology-stub