Fertilization Follows. During the spring of the female cone's second year, the male and female gametes are ready. The pollen grows a pollen tube, which enters a little hole in the ovule's skin near its basal end, called the micropyle. The tube enters the ovule, and the sperm goes down the tube and into the ovule.
The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity. ... The female cone (megastrobilus, seed cone, or ovulate cone) contains ovules which, when fertilized by pollen, become seeds.
