Pollen tube Pollen tube A pollen tube is a tubular structure produced by the male gametophyte of seed plants when it germinates. It acts as a conduit to transport the male gamete cells from the pollen grain—either from the stigma (in flowering plants) to the ovules at the base of the pistil or directly through ovule tissue in some gymnosperms. In maize, this single cell can grow longer than to traverse the length of the pistil. Pollen tubes were first discovered by Giovanni Battista Amici. They are used as a model for understanding plant cell behavior. Research is ongoing to comprehend how
Tylosis (botany) Tylosis (botany) A tylosis (plural: tyloses) is a bladder-like distension of a parenchyma cell into the lumen of adjacent vessels in wood. Less certainly, the term tylosis is in use to summarise the physiological process and the resulting occlusion in the xylem of woody plants as response to injury or as protection from decay in heartwood. It is a key process in wall one of the Compartmentalization Of Decay In Trees (CODIT) and other woody plants. Observed in section under a microscope, tyloses appear as balloon-like protrusions emanating from axial paratracheal parenchyma cells into xylem vessels through pits linking the