The male gametophyte is represented by one or few cells and, except in a few primitive forms where the male cell still retains the motile character as in the Pteridophyta, is carried passively to the macrospore in a development of the pollen grain, the pollen tube.
The male gametophyte is sometimes represented by a transitory prothallial cell;, the two male cells are carried passively down into the ovary and into the mouth of the ovule by means of the pollen-tube.
When placed on the stigma, under favourable circumstances, the pollen-grain puts forth a pollen-tube which grows down the tissue of the style to the ovary, and makes its way along the placenta, guided by projections or hairs, to the mouth of an ovule.
The male-cells are carried to their destination in the tip of the pollen-tube.
The gametophyte or prothallial generation is thus extremely reduced, consisting of but little more than the male and female sexual cells - the two sperm-cells in the pollen-tube and the egg-cell (with the synergidae) in the embryo-sac. At the period of fertilization the embryo-sac lies in close proximity tube has penetrated, the separating cell-wall becomes absorbed, and the male or sperm-cells are ejected into the embryosac. Guided by the synergidae one male-cell passes into the oosphere with which it fuses, the two nuclei uniting, while the other fuses with the definitive nucleus, or, as it is also called, the endosperm nucleus.
