In a pollen grain, exine is thin or absent at certain places. These areas may have thickened intine or deposition of callose. They are called germ pores (if rounded) or germinal furrows (if elongated). After pollination, the pollen grain on the stigma absorbs water and nutrients from the stigmatic secretion through its germ pores. The tube or vegetative cell enlarges and comes out of pollen grains through germ pore to form a pollen tube.