what is the anther of a flower

The anther is a part of the stamen, which is the male reproductive part of a flower. It is located at the top of the stamen and produces and contains pollen. Each anther is generally borne at the tip of a long slender stalk known as a filament and consists of two lobes that each house a pair of pollen sacs (microsporangia) that produce pollen for pollination. As the anther matures, the partition between the adjacent microsporangia of a pair breaks down so that there are only two pollen-containing sacs (one in each lobe of the anther) at the time the anther releases the pollen. The anther is an important part of the flower because it produces male reproductive cells, which fertilize the female reproductive cells in the ovary to produce seeds.