Allergy sufferers don’t have it easy. Especially in the spring, when with the gradual appearance of warmer days, they have to fiercely fight allergy symptoms such as runny nose, watery eyes, nasal itching, sneezing, obstruction, as well as redness and burning of the conjunctiva. It definitely hinders normal functioning. What causes allergies and which early flowering trees are particularly “to blame”?
- Alder – is the allergen with the strongest concentration. Its pollen is the most common cause of allergies in our climate zone. Symptoms in people who are allergic to it appear suddenly. This is associated with a sudden, often violent start of tree pollination, when in the first days of flowering pollen is in the air in a very high concentration. The basic symptoms of allergy are: redness of the conjunctiva, rhinitis manifested by watery discharge, sneezing and itching, as well as tearing. The flowering period of alder begins at the turn of January and February, but the culminating period of allergies falls only in mid-March.
- Willow – allergy to it does not happen very often, but when someone has to deal with it, their only problem is not giving up catkins in a vase. Honey is also banned, mainly due to the willow spores present in it. Interestingly, people with allergies suffer more from allergies in the city than in the countryside. This is due to the presence of willows in many parks in the urban space, from where they are dispersed en masse by the wind. These plants bloom from mid-March to mid-April.
- Hazel – this common tree grows in many parks and forests. The appearance of elongated, yellow inflorescences heralds the beginning of early spring, but depending on the year, hazel pollination begins as early as in January, or only at the turn of February and March. The high concentration of pollen from this tree manifests itself in allergy sufferers with burning eyes and runny nose, which is why these symptoms are often mistaken for a cold (mainly due to the still quite cool weather).
- Poplar – it causes allergies relatively rarely, although it is often wrongly considered to be the main cause of spring catarrh (much more often alder is to blame). It blooms from February, but intensive pollination begins only in the third week of March. From March to April, “male varieties” pollen, and from April to May, female ones, which produce much less pollen, so allergy sufferers can breathe a sigh of relief.
- Cis – its pollen contains a toxin – an alkaloid that irritates the mucous membranes of the throat and nose. It blooms from the third decade of March for 10 to 30 days. The largest number of common yews is found in Bory Tucholskie.