Pollen as large as about 90–100 µm. In angiosperms, during flower development the anther is composed of a mass of cells that appear undifferentiated, except for a partially differentiated dermis. As the flower develops, four groups of sporogenous cells form within the anther. The fertile sporogenous cells are surrounded by layers of sterile cells that grow into the wall of the pollen sac. Some of the cells grow into nutritive cells that supply nutrition for the microspores that form by meiotic division from the sporogenous cells. In a process called microsporogenesis, four haploid microspores are produced from each diploid sporogenous cell
Pollen tube subsequent pollination (transfer of pollen grains to the pistil, the female reproductive organ). Transfer of pollen is usually carried out by wind, water, or animals . The ovaries hold the ovules that produce the female gamete: the egg cell, which waits in place for fertilization. Once a pollen grain settles on a compatible pistil, it may germinate in response to a sugary fluid secreted by the mature stigma. Lipids at the surface of the stigma may also stimulate pollen tube growth for compatible pollen. Plants that are self-sterile often inhibit the pollen grains from their own flowers from growing pollen