D uring sexual reproduction, pollenperformance is greatly influenced by the female tissues. The stigma exudate, i.e., the extracellular secretion that covers the stigma outermost surface, has been usually regarded as a reservoir of water, secondary metabolites, cell wall precursors and compounds that serve as energy supply for rapid pollen tube growth. In an attempt to identify the proteins present in the stigma secretome, we performed a large-scale analysis in two species (Lilium longiflorum and Olea europaea) following a proteomicbased approach. The resulting data strongly suggest that the stigma exudate is not a mere storage site but also a biochemically active environment with a markedly catabolic nature. Thus, this secretion may modulate early pollen tube growth and contribute to the senescence of stigma after pollination. In addition, a putative cross-talk between genetic programs that regulate stress/defense and pollination responses in the stigma is also suggested. The stigma exudate might also functionally diverge between species on the basis on their ecology and the biochemical, morphological and anatomical features of their stigmas. Unexpectedly, we identified in both exudates some intracellular proteins, suggesting that a mechanism other than the canonical ER-Golgi exocytic pathway may exist in the stigma and contribute to exudate secretion.During sexual reproduction, pollen performance is greatly influenced by the biochemical, morphological and anatomical features of the female counterpart (i.e., the pistil). In some plants, the stigma outermost surface is coated by a secretion that is released by specialized cells called papillae. This extracellular fluid, the so-called stigma exudate, mostly contains water, sugars, lipids and proteins, 1 but other compounds such as phenols, amino acids, ROS/ RNS and Ca 2+ ions are also present in measurable amounts. [2][3][4][5] The picture of the stigma secretome remains fragmentary and only a few proteins have been identified and characterized so far. [6][7][8] In a recent publication, we performed a largescale protein profiling study of the stigma exudate in two plant species, namely Eastern lily (Lilium longiflorum) and olive (Olea europaea), that substantially differ in their taxonomical position, pistil morphology and anatomy, ecology and cultivation purposes. 9 Following a proteomic-based strategy, we identified 51 and 57 unique proteins in lily and olive, respectively, most of which are first described in this secretion. The resulting data shows that the complexity of the stigma exudate, in terms of protein diversity, is higher than initially expected. 10 Under a functional perspective, this secretion has often been regarded as a mere source of water for pollen hydration, and storage compounds for sustaining