Photo of the erect inflorescence with two open flowers. The flowers have flattened, broad staminodes.

Canna is a stamen flower! The filaments of the fertile & sterile stamens are broad & petaloid (shaped like petals) & make up most of the floral display. This is a yellow form of Canna tuerckheimii, which usually has red flowers. #stamenflowers #stamen #Cannaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a leafless shrub bearing erect, stubby inflorescences of white stamen flowers.

Fothergilla latifolia is from another mixed family: Some #Hamamelidaceae have showy petals, but in this species, the show is all stamens. #stamenflowers #stamen #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a leafy shoot bearing inflorescences that bear clusters of yellow stamen flowers.

#Salicaceae are a mixed family: some members have flowers with showy petals, but others, like this Azara serrata of Chile, are stamen flowers. #stamenflowers #stamen #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪🌱

Close-up photo of a few flowers with short, white petals and many long, slender, white stamens.

Barringtonia racemosa is not without petals, but they’re mostly hidden behind the glorious stamens. These flowers are pollinated by large bats in tropical Africa, s. Asia, New Guinea & Queensland, Australia. #Lecythidaceae #stamenflowers #stamen #pollination #bats #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of a leafy shoot bearing an inflorescence. Flowers are radially symmetrical, with a whorl of green carpels surrounded by many, greenish stamens.

In Trochodendron aralioides (#Trochodendracea), the perianth (sepals+petals) is essentially absent (or minute). Stamens, along with the whorl of carpels, comprise the entire floral display. #stamenflowers #stamen #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a whorl of dark green simple leaves and several erect spikes of white, short-filament, long-anther stamens.

In the #Chloranthaceae, the perianth (sepals+petals) is absent. In staminate flowers, like this Chloranthus japonicus, the entire floral display is staminal. #stamenflowers #stamen #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of leafy branches bearing flowers that are comprised of many white stamens.

In lineages that typically have showy petals/corollas, #stamen flowers are exceptional & worth noting. For example, we usually think of the rose family (#Rosaceae) as having showy petals, but Neviusia (2 spp.) has #stamenflowers. : N. cliftonii by John Rusk CC BY 2.0 #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of leafy branches bearing powder-puff heads of stamen flowers. The filaments are white toward the bases and pink to the apices. Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.

Stamen flowers—those in which the #stamens, rather than petals, are the attractive feature—have evolved repeatedly. Some groups are defined by #stamenflowers, such as #Fabaceae→subfamily Caesalpinioideae→tribe Mimoseae. 📷: Calliandra surinamensis #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪🌱