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The stamen is the male organ of a flower. Typical flowers have six stamens inside a perianth (the petals and sepals together), but in some species there are many more than six present in a flower. Each stamen consists of a thin stalk called a filament supporting an anther that contains the microsporangia. Haploid pollen—the male gamete cells of a flowering plant—are produced by the microsporangia.

In the typical flower (that is, the majority of flowering plant species) each flower has both a pistil and stamens. However, in some species the flowers are unisexual with only either male or female parts. A flower having only functional stamens is called a staminate flower.