# Pollen

> Pollen is the fine powder released by male flowers that carries the male gametes; when it lands on a female's stigmas it fertilises the ovules and produces seed.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pollen.html
- Also written: pollen grains, cannabis pollen, male pollen, pollen dust
- Glossary category: Genetics and breeding · Evidence: Established
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

Pollen is the dust-like material shed by [male flowers](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/staminate-flower.md) (or [reversed female](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/sex-reversal.md) flowers). Each grain carries a haploid nucleus that, on landing on a stigma, grows a tube to an ovule and fertilises it, producing a seed. Cannabis pollen is wind-dispersed, light and produced in huge quantities.

## In practice

One male can seed a whole room. Breeders isolate males, collect pollen on paper or in a bag over the flowers, and apply it to chosen branches with a brush. Collected pollen stays viable for days at room temperature; drying it and storing it cold or frozen extends that substantially (Gaudet et al. 2020). [Germination](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/germination.md) tests tell you whether stored pollen is still worth using.

Outdoors, cannabis and [hemp](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hemp.md) pollen can travel long distances on wind, which is why seed producers and flower growers near hemp fields worry about stray pollination.

## Don't confuse with

- **Trichome resin**: the sticky, aromatic heads on [female flowers](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pistillate-flower.md). Pollen is dusty, yellowish and odourless by comparison.
- **Pollen from a herm**: genetically from the same female, it spreads sex instability.
- **Nanners**: slang for exposed male anthers on a female plant; the source of [herm](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hermaphrodite.md) pollen, covered in the slang entry.

## Related terms

[Pollination](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pollination.md), [Male selection](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/male-selection.md), [STS](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/sts.md), [Cross](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cross.md), [Regular seed](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/regular-seed.md)

## Read more

- [Collecting and storing cannabis pollen](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/breeding/pollen-collection-storage.md)
- [Pollination and seed production, step by step](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/breeding/pollination-seed-production.md)

## Sources

1. Gaudet D, Yadav NS, Sorokin A, Bilichak A, Kovalchuk I. 2020. Development and optimization of a germination assay and long-term storage for Cannabis sativa pollen. Plants 9(5):665. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9050665