Understanding The Different Pollen Types

There are many different pollen types that cause people to suffer from allergies. Tree pollen allergies tend to be top on the list along with bee pollen allergies and birch pollen. Other types of allergies include hickory pollen, elm pollen, and oak pollen to name a few. In North America, weeds are the biggest source of allergenic pollens, with ragweed as the number one producer. The pollen grain is used as a structure that allows the male pollen to travel to the female flowers. The pollen must be strong and tough enough to provide the male pollen with efficient transport. The tough part of outer wall is called the exine. It is made up of an unusual substance that is called sporopollenin. The inner area of the cell is built up of cellulose and it is somewhat structured like a regular plant cell. Only a small pinch of pollen powder can be made up of thousands of grains. Weeds such as sagebrush, Russian thistle, lamb’s quarters, and redroot pigweed are all major culprits when it comes to causing allergies. There are as many as 1000 different species of grass in North America, but only a few of these species create highly allergenic pollen. The grass that has high allergenic pollen is Johnson grass, Kentucky bluegrass, orchard grass, and Bermuda grass. Tree that have allergenic pollen are mountain cedar, box elder, pecan, elm, hickory, ash, and oak. People usually will say they are allergic to scented or colorful flowers, when in fact only gardeners and florists become sensitive because they have spent a long time dealing with the flowers. Most people have only small contact with heavy, waxy ,and large pollen grains of flower plants. This is because this type of pollen does not get blown around in the wind and is carried by bees and insects instead. Pollen comes in all different times of varieties, shapes, and sizes, and each pollen grain has its own characteristics. Grass pollen is more recently evolved and has different characteristics that make them unique from weed and tree pollen.