Stamen

Stamens are the male aspect of a flower. ​

Pollen-coated stamens of Amaryllis

Flowering plants, or angiosperms, have flowers that can be male, female, or both, though not usually at the same time.

The word stamen comes to us from the Latin word for ‘thread’. This is because the stamen is a threadlike stalk, called a filament, which has a pollen-producing anther on top. The stamen usually surrounds the female part, or pistil, though not always

Stamens and stigma of ‘Stargazer’ lily (Subhrajyoti07) CC BY-SA 4.0

Plant families

Different plant families have different arrangements of pistils and stamens. For example:

• Cabbage family plants have 6 stamens, usually 2 short ones and 4 longer ones. 
• Capers have a lovely purple stamen.
• Carrot flowers change their gender as they develop. This means that a single umbel, or flower cluster, will contain both male and female umbellets at the same time, with the older female flowers on the outer edges and male stamens closer to the center. 
• Germander can have red or purple stamens. 
• Nasturtium flowers have 8 whorled stamens. 
• Mint flowers have four stamens and five fused petals, with two petals pointing up and three petals pointing down. Salvia is an exception with only two stamens that create a unique lever action.

Thorny caper flower (Wilson44691) Public Domain

Edible flowers

When eating edible flowers, it is a good idea to remove the stamen and pistils and just eat the petals and other parts. The only exceptions are violas and Johnny-jump-ups. In these cases, the other parts add good flavor. Saffron threads are the dried [female] styles and stigmas of a specific crocus flower species, not the stamen.

Nasturtium

Melons, zucchini and other squashes can easily be hand-pollinated by breaking off a pollen-carrying stamen and touching each of the flowers flowers with it.

Male squash flower

Female squash flower

Now you know.