Related topics: allergy

Optimizing cacao pollination for higher yields

A research team including Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter's Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology has investigated how the cultivation of cacao can be improved by using the right pollination technique. The success of ...

Researchers identify peptides for pollen tube growth in rice

Double fertilization is a complex mechanism in flowering plants, wherein two sperm cells fuse with the embryo sac. To achieve this, pollens released from anthers must interact with the plant's stigma, hydrate, and germinate ...

Creating pollen-free trees to combat hay fever

Pollinosis, or hay fever, makes people miserable around the world, and Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollen is a significant cause of the suffering in the 38.8% of Japanese people who are allergic. Japanese cedar ...

page 1 from 31

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the female cone of coniferous plants. When pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone (i.e., when pollination has occurred), it germinates and produces a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule (or female gametophyte). Individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA