So, I’ve come across multiple definitions of the term versatile anthers. In order to prevent any influence on the answers to the following questions, I won’t repeat those definitions here.
Must versatile anthers be dorsifixed?
Are dorsifixed anthers necessarily versatile?
Do versatile anthers necessarily have a flexible (as opposed to rigid) point of articulation?
This is just to see where the generally understanding of the meaning of the phrase currently lies.This isn’t really of critical importance, so thanks to anyone who responds for satisfying my curiosity.
Hi, @justin426, welcome to the forum! This might be better served in the Nature Talk category as it doesn’t seem to pertain to iNaturalist itself. (Or does it, not really sure.)
I pulled out my old plant taxonomy textbook (Plant systematics by Michael G Simpson, page 478) and checked, here is what i found:
Versatile anthers can be dorsifixed, subbasifixed, and basifixed.
“A versatile attachment is one in which the anther freely pivots (teeter-totters) at the point of attachment with the filament; versatile anthers may be dorsifixed, basifixed, or subbasifixed.”
No, anthers can be “dorsifixed” or “dorsifixed versatile”, for example.
Yes, see point 1
When I took plant taxonomy from the author of this textbook, he would frequently remind us that definitions of terms varied between botanists. So others may not necessarily agree with my answers above.