This spring "epidemic" is torturing countless Chinese people! The "real culprit" is actually...

When spring comes and flowers bloom, it is the day when allergy sufferers suffer.

The eyes are red and swollen, the nose is itchy, and the sneezing is one after another. The real experience of being an allergy patient is that I really want to die on the spot.

Many people are particularly puzzled. I didn’t see any flowers today. What made us allergic?

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In fact, many people do not have a comprehensive understanding of "pollen". They think that only plants with large flowers like peach blossoms, apricot blossoms, and cherry blossoms can spread pollen.

But little do we know that the plants that really make us sneeze and cry don’t bloom the way we imagine!

Although peach blossoms look beautiful and bright, they actually do not have much pollen, and their pollen is relatively large and unlikely to remain suspended in the air.

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Unless you get really close and take a deep breath, there's little chance that they'll become allergens for you.

This type of flower is called insect-pollinated flower. They are mainly pollinated by insects, so they are relatively large in size.

The ones that can really release large amounts of pollen into the air, making every breath of air we breathe full of allergens, are actually the wind-pollinated flowers, which are usually smaller and less conspicuous.

Because they rely mainly on wind for dispersal, their flowers are mostly degenerate, small and inconspicuous, and lack fragrance and nectar glands.

The way they improve their pollination efficiency is to pile up the pollen - the amount of their pollen is often so huge that a gust of wind can turn an area of ​​several miles or even further into a poison circle for allergy sufferers.

For example, the Japanese Cryptomeria japonica that blooms in early spring can directly form a pollen cloud when the pollen is scattered; if the weather is right, it can fly hundreds of kilometers with the wind, bringing the tearful allergy experience to more people.

Since Japanese cedar is grown in large quantities in Japan, early spring every year is Japan's allergy season. It is no wonder that Japanese people are accustomed to welding masks to their faces.

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Fortunately, there is no Japanese cedar, a major pollen producer, grown in China.

Unfortunately, birch, paulownia, mulberry, elm, maple, sycamore, and various pines, cypresses, and willows, which are widely planted in China, are also major pollen producers.

And their blooming season is now - spring.

Last week, when I was walking in the park, I shook the branches of the pine trees on the roadside. Instantly, I could see pollen like smoke drifting down from the branches.

The scene was so intense that it would make an allergy sufferer scream for help - luckily I'm not allergic, otherwise I would probably have fainted on the spot because of my own hand irritation.

However, compared to the pine trees, which are not widely distributed, the juniper is a bigger "killer", especially in Beijing where I live, the juniper is much more common than the pine trees.

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Whether in various royal gardens, temples, public places or even on the mountains in the suburbs, juniper is a very common greening tree and is planted in large areas.

Once the wind blows, they will roll up clouds of yellow smoke, which looks sacred but is actually deadly.

By the way, the Japanese cedar mentioned earlier is actually also a pine tree.

Other common pollen producers in the North include plants in the Salicaceae family - not only do they have pollen that floats in the air, but they also spread pollen secretly, which is determined to kill allergy sufferers.

Fortunately, after entering summer, these tall trees that can spread pollen far away have basically finished blooming.

But don't let your guard down, because in summer and autumn, the weeds will start to bloom again.

The common weeds from the Poaceae, Amaranthaceae, Compositae and Cannabaceae families all quietly spread their pollen.

Therefore, April to June and August to September every year are actually the peak seasons for allergies.

Among the grasses, Setaria viridis is the most widely distributed one. Its furry "dog tails" hide a large amount of pollen, enough to make an allergy sufferer sneeze.

Among the Amaranthaceae plants, those in the Chenopodiaceae subfamily are the most deadly.

These plants, collectively known as gray-gray vegetables, are widely distributed across the country, blooming and spreading pollen without people noticing.

The most terrible thing in the Asteraceae family is definitely ragweed. It is no exaggeration to say that it can be regarded as the biggest killer of autumn pollen allergies.

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Ragweed is native to America. It is a vigorous and vicious species that has invaded the whole world. Once it invades, it can quickly occupy the entire land. Ragweed entered China as early as the 1930s. With people's intentional or unintentional carry, it has already expanded to many areas of my country.

In addition to its wide distribution range, what is even more frightening is that ragweed pollen is highly allergenic. It can not only cause coughing, sneezing, asthma and other problems, but also stimulate tears; even skin contact can be irritating and cause symptoms of redness, swelling and itching.

If you live in an area where ragweed is rampant, in order to avoid allergies you not only need to wear a mask, you also need to wear goggles and long-sleeved clothes to completely isolate yourself from the threat of this poisonous weed.

The allergens of cannabis plants are actually very common - the stinging weeds are one of them.

Like ragweed, it is a very dangerous invasive species that can quickly cover an entire field.

However, compared to ragweed, ragweed is less likely to cause allergies - after all, ragweed is too prickly, so people will stay away from it to avoid being pricked.

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In short, pollen allergy sufferers please remember one sentence:

If you want to avoid allergies, in addition to staying away from plants with "big flowers", you should also stay away from trees and weeds that appear to have no flowers at all.

Author: Hydra Science Author

Reviewer: Wang Kang, Director of the Science Museum of the National Botanical Garden

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