As mentioned in the introduction, dehiscence only occurs
when the anther is desiccating and an efficient mechanism
for drying the anther might be direct radiation. Corn anthers
resemble small cylinders similar to pendula hanging from
spikelets.When the anthers are sufficiently dry, a pore at the
bottom of the anther opens up (Fig. 1). Assuming static
anthers that hang down vertically, the rate of direct solar
radiant energy to which anthers are exposed can be
estimated as