A pistil is the female reproductive part of a
flower. The pistil, centrally located, typically consists of a swollen base, the
ovary, which contains the potential seeds, or
ovules; a stalk, or style, arising from the ovary; and a
pollen-receptive tip, the
stigma, variously shaped and often sticky. In
pollination, compatible pollen grains land on the stigma and then begin
germination, forming a pollen tube. The pollen tube grows down through the tissue of the style to deposit sperm for the
fertilization of the ovules in the ovary. Pistils in the collective sense form the
gynoecium, in distinction to the male reproductive parts, or androecium.