Sentence:  It is well understood that in artificial cross-fertilizing, in order to prevent self-fecundation, we <WSD>emasculate</WSD> the flower from which we wish to obtain the seeds for new varieties; that is, we remove the anthers from that flower, and in the proper season apply to the stigma the pollen from some other distinct flower. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Of a flower: to deprive of the anthers.