Two recent models which have been proposed to describe the structure of the nuclear pore1,2 have given conflicting interpretations of the structural relationship of the various pore components in animal cells. No model has satisfactorily incorporated the evidence obtained from vertical sections of a pore, and no convincing model has been proposed for the nuclear pores in plant cells. In view of the obvious significance of nuclear pores for nuclear-cytoplasmic transport, and considering the current confusion about their structure, we have investigated the three dimensional picture of the pore complex in higher plants.