Pollen from Arabidopsis thaliana and other Brassicaceae are functionally omniaperturate.

Premise Of The Study: Most pollen walls are interrupted by apertures, thin areas providing access to stigmatic fluids and exit points for pollen tubes. Unexpectedly, pollen tubes of Arabidopsis thaliana are not obligated to pass through apertures and can instead take the shortest route into the stigma, passing directly through a nonaperturate wall.

Methods: We used stains and confocal microscopy to follow early pollen tube formation in A.