Despite its significance in the reproductive cycle of flowering plants, and its importance in helping to interpret plant evolution, the stamen, and its fertile, pollen-bearing part, the anther, have received relatively little scientific attention. To help begin to address this shortcoming the contributions in this volume, first published in 1996, give an indication of the kinds of studies now being undertaken with a view to stimulating further work on this neglected plant organ. Traditional and contemporary concepts of stamen construction, terminology and function are summarised, and an extensive bibliography gives access to relevant literature. Evidence for the evolution of the anther is drawn from the fossil record and from studies of its growth and structure, and the dynamics of stamen evolution is detailed for several families.