The best way to remove the anthers from a lily is with dulled slant-tip tweezers. In case you were truant or under the influence of anything during high school Biology class, the anthers are the pollen-making parts at the top of the stamens. When the lily first begins to open, the anthers are silky and smooth and are not yet a powdery mess of throbbing plant desire; this is the time to remove them! I've learned the hard way - orange lily pollen stains skin (leaving you orangey-yellow, as if you'd been cooking with tumeric or playing with certain self-tanners), stains placemats and dinner napkins. So use tweezers - spare your skin, clothes and table linens.
The anthers come off with a satisfying little *snap*, leaving you with the naked male stamens, and the big stigma (the female part of the flower, in the center) intact. Remember: a stigma needs an anther like a fish needs a bicycle. Heh heh.
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