Your allergies are bad because of tree sexism

boing
1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/09/your-allergies-are-bad-because.html

…

5 Likes
2

I recently did some landscaping (because home for three months and looking at the yard 24/7 things had to change) and added some ornamental grasses. Seemed like a good idea, a fresh look, grows well in clay soil we have here…

…then came the sneezing, the wheezing, the itchy eyes. Grass has to go now.

Thinking that trees will be going in now and will be paying attention to their sex.

7 Likes
3

“…as every day I woke up with a scratchy throat or runny nose I immediately assumed the worst.”

Oh, yes, that super fun game “Pollen or Plague?”.

21 Likes
4

TIL that trees have sexes. I thought they all produced pollen and all produced seeds.

4 Likes
5

I thought it was “Allergy or Apocalypse” but it’s probably a regional mod.

15 Likes
6

Clover is good if you don’t want a huge water bill and something that’s soft to walk on barefoot.

11 Likes
7

it sure is a mess to get off your car if you have to park under an active tree.

9 Likes
8

8 Likes
9

Tree__timber__pollen

18 Likes
10

Don’t know if it’s the same here in Blighty but my burning/sneezing/wheezing/“sprayed with mace” fun kicks off in early March & goes on to October. The Girl Genius has it year round. Flora & fungi are at it more than we are.

4 Likes
11

Do we not have rules about posting that sort of blatant sexual content on the BBS? :thinking:

11 Likes
12

I identify as a female ginkgo. Gwyneth Paltrow is going to bottle my fragrance.

6 Likes
13

Jade bottles or GTFO.

5 Likes
14

For example, when a lady gingko tree is in heat,

It’s stuff like this that makes me realize I never really learned about the “birds and the bees”

4 Likes
15

Or, in this case, the flowers and the trees.

9 Likes
16

I took to calling it the Bukkake Season, since that’s what the trees are doing to my car. >.<

7 Likes
17

As usual in biology, it depends on the species. Some trees do indeed produce both (this is common for conifers). Plant sexuality is complex and varied. See all the terms in the “terminology” section of Plant reproductive morphology - Wikipedia

6 Likes
18

Pollen is not the only thing. One of the our trees drops three inch strings of some sort with sticky yellow things that foul up the windscreen wipers. I should get one of those covers car fanciers use.

Then there are the birds.

4 Likes
19

So you do know how to sex a chicken?

1 Like
20

Romancing humans is difficult enough.

6 Likes