Yes, it really is spring allergy season in spite of the
winter like conditions we have enjoyed in northern Colorado. My teenage sons may
be tired of shoveling snow, but I am happy for the moisture that the spring
snows have brought to our state. But as the Colorado landscape slowly comes to
life, so do the spring sniffles and itchy eyes. With all the suffering from
spring allergy symptoms, there is big money to be made by companies that market
all sorts of remedies from the symptoms. Which brings me to the purpose of this
article and that is the misrepresentation by the media of the plant species
responsible for your suffering.
A simple Google search using just two key words, spring
allergy, and switching the search to images only brings up several accused
suspects from the plant world. From there I get a page of photos including
tulips, ox-eye daisy, Gerber daisy, cherry blossoms, sunflowers, and a whole
lot of dandelions. I only saw one species that one might consider a spring
allergen and that was tansy. And the television and print media advertisements
are no different. If you have a product to sell to relieve spring allergies,
put in a picture of a spring blooming plant. The lawyers might call this ex concessis, or guilt by association.
We see the blooming plants, we have a sniffly nose, and thus we blame whom we
see while the guilty party, which blooms at the same time, is hidden away. It is
only human to blame your pain on the bright colorful plants that you see, but
the true culprits are the plants that mostly inconspicuous blooms.
Plant species with brightly colored and scented blooms generate
pollen grains that are relatively large and heavy, which have evolved to be
carried by bees, butterflies, humming birds and other pollinator species. They
are too heavy to be carried on wind currents. Trees and species such as ragweed
with inconspicuous flowers bare copious quantities of pollen that is light
enough for wind pollination. It is the wind-borne pollen that is causing your
suffering, not the pollen from brightly colored plants, which are insect
pollinated.
So stop blaming the goldenrod when the ragweed is your culprit.
Some common trees that are strong allergens from March
through June include maple, willow, poplar, elm, birch, mulberry, ash, hickory,
oak, and walnut. Late summer and fall allergens include ragweed, pigweed, lambs
quarters, and wormwood. A useful website for allergens and plants by location
can be found at http://www.pollenlibrary.com/.
Also, the National Institute of Health has a Pollen Allergy fact sheet.
For more information, see the MedlinePlus page on Allergic rhinitis.
Add junipers and assorted conifers in May and grasses all summer. Some days I want to move into a bubble!
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