pollen

noun

(L. pollen, pollinis: fine flour, mill dust) The microspores of seed plants, containing the microgametophyte (the structure that generates the male nucleus, the gamete). Pollen is produced in the microsporangia (anthers of flowering plants), and released when ripe to be carried by wind or animals to the stigma (or female cone in conifers) during pollination. Under appropriate conditions, the pollen grain germinates to produce a pollen tube which grows down the style, carrying the male gamete to the female gamete in the ovule.