Dehiscence is a terminal event in flower development that releases mature pollen grains from the anther. Anther dehiscence is one of a number of events coordinated late in floral development to enable successful fertilization to occur. When the sepals and petals of the flower open, the stamens and pistil are prepared for the release and acceptance of the pollen grains, respectively. The Arabidopsis male-sterility mutant, delayed dehiscence1, is delayed in the process of anther dehiscence, and pollen grains are released too late for successful pollination to occur. On pages 1041–1061 of this issue, Sanders et al. show that the DELAYED DEHISCENCE1 gene encodes 12-oxophytodienoate reductase, an enzyme in the jasmonic acid pathway. The authors show that application of jasmonic acid to delayed dehiscence1 floral buds rescues the male-sterility phenotype. DELAYED DEHISCENCE1 mRNA is localized within the pistil, petals, and filaments prior to the initiation of the anther dehiscence program and is not detectable in the stomium and septum cells of the anther that function in pollen release. These results demonstrate that jasmonic acid plays a role in ensuring that pollen is released from the anther when the flower opens and suggests that the jasmonic acid signal travels within the flower to target cells in the anther.