I hope someone here is familiar with the front range (Boulder/Denver area) and can tell me what bloomed last week that made me really sick. I know Olive tree's and grass get to me but the Olives are done and grass goes on all summer. Most of the tree's I see have gone to fruit so I'm at a loss as to what could have polluted the air last week. Possibly not a tree at all? Our pollen count has been tree's =high, grass=high, weeds=low, and Mold= N/A Started on the evening of June 26th with strong winds out of the Northwest and is tapering off now. Any feedback greatly appreciated.
Olive trees (Olea) can't take the winters there, you must be thinking of something like Russian olive (Elaeagnus). You might have to get tested by an allergist to find out what bothers you.
yes, russian olives. I don't think you can sell them legally here anymore but the nasty, weedy things are everywhere. At any rate they were done blooming weeks ago. Been tested positive for trees and grass but not for specific types. This last week floored me and it ended just as abruptly as of Yesterday. Whatever it was bloomed and left just as quickly, thank goodness. Oh well, I was hoping someone knew of something specific in this area that flowered end of June, Bummer. I don't think it was the smoke, it was a Pollen of some sort of that I am sure. This area is literally overrun with non-native, invasive garbage plants and I bet dollars to donuts it was something that doesn't even belong here.
I think I might have found it, and it's native, Catalpa. Ahhhh, the wonders of Google. A quick search shows it to be the first one on a list of "tree's to avoid". I seem to recall seeing these guys blooming last week, with quite a few on campus where I work and more in my neighborhood. I'll have to look later today for dried up or freshly fallen flowers under these guys. With the exception of Russian Olive none of these others live here AFAIK. I remember seeing the Catalpa's long bean pod's in the fall and just now learned they're also called Indian Cigars. Talk about not Politically correct LOL. Man, a further search shows these guys are NASTY I hope no teenagers read the last part, I can just see a rash of Catalpa poisonings flooding the local ER
Plants with obvious flowers are usually insect-pollinated, and therefore have heavy, clinging pollen (to stick to insects) which doesn't blow around or cause asthma. The ones to watch for are wind-pollinated plants with flowers that you tend not to notice, they are the real culprits. Check to see e.g. what Ambrosia and Artemisia species are shedding pollen at the moment.
michael your right, my last post didn't go through because it needed to be moderated? but I found my culprit. Native tree called Catalpa, or Indian Cigar tree. Wind pollinated and extremely toxic in every way imaginable. Severely allergenic pollen, bark dust or chips are an inhale-able irritant, Roots are poisonous, seeds are narcotic and sedative. Only thing it doesn't do is devour small children. Yikes, what a green monster and I'm fairly sure it bloomed last week, lots of them around here
here's another interesting and puzzling thing. If you just search for Catalpa all the articles I found don't even mention the hazards of this thing. They talk about spongy bark, big leaves, etc. Even Wiki makes no mention that it"S POISONOUS LOL. number one on this list another article you have to search for both Catalpa and allergies to find I'm surprised I even found it really. I had to search for "flowering at end of June" , only tree on that list was Catalpa. Then search for "Catalpa allergies"
Unlikely to be a Catalpa - they are insect pollinated*, not wind pollinated. * As expected with its big showy flowers [public domain USDA photo]
why would it be listed as number 1 on the "allergenic tree's list and the information on allergy's state I doubt people are walking up and sticking their noses in the flowers? I sure wasn't. Just because it attracts bee's it doesn't disperse in the wind?
