pollen tube

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noun Botany.

the protoplasmic tube that is extruded from a germinating pollen grain and grows toward the ovule.

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Origin of pollen tube

First recorded in 1825–35

Words nearby pollen tube

poll end, pollen grain, pollen mother cell, pollenosis, pollen sac, pollen tube, pollera, pollero, poll evil, pollex, pollice verso

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pollen tube in a sentence

If it does, the silk grows a pollen tube, enabling the male genes to travel towards the ovule and fertilize it.
The bizarre botany that makes corn a fruit, a grain, and also (kind of) a vegetable|empire|July 8, 2021|Popular-Science
With the help of mobility aids and a feeding tube, she lived well past her initial prognosis of death by age 4.
U.K. Courts Grant Mother Right to End Her 12-Year-Old Disabled Daughter’s Life|Elizabeth Picciuto|November 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That incident was due to an “equipment” problem (a steel tube ruptured)—resulting in explosive vapors being released and ignited.
Oil Tankers Leaking into Seattle’s Water|Bill Conroy|October 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For hoodie-clad, Silicon Valley-types, this means more transistors in a dense integrated tube.
How We Compute: Flexible Hardware Required||September 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

With shorts, a man is expected to wear ankle socks rather than pulled up tube socks.
The Problem With Weird Al’s ‘Word Crimes’ Video|John McWhorter|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Also, because a tube of lipstick stands in for the “i” in “science.”
Girls Love Science. We Tell Them Not To.|Tauriq Moosa|July 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Drone: the largest tube of a bag-pipe, giving forth a dull heavy tone.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
Should the vapor not condense well, the test-tube may be immersed in a glass of cold water.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
For comparison, the gas may be passed through a test-tube containing an equal amount of distilled water.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
At once cover the mouth of the tube with a filter-paper cap moistened with saturated aqueous solution of silver nitrate (1:1).
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
The best pipet is a small glass tube which has been drawn out at one end to a tip with rather small opening.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for pollen tube

pollen tube

noun

a hollow tubular outgrowth that develops from a pollen grain after pollination, grows down the style to the ovule, and conveys male gametes to the egg cell

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for pollen tube

pollen tube

The slender tube that is formed after pollination by division of the tube cell in a pollen grain. The pollen tube penetrates the ovule and releases the male gametes.