Seed hairs of poplar trees as natural airborne pollen trap for allergenic

Co- Author: YA-QIN HU 1,2, DAVID KAY FERGUSON 3, SUBIR BERA 4 & CHENG-SEN LI 2

                   1. Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China,

                    2. Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China,

                    3. Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Austria,

                    4. Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

Abstract
The present article deals with the efficacy of seed hairs of poplar trees (Populus spp.) as a potent natural airborne pollen trap.
Different species of Populus are commonly found planted along the streets in the cities of North China. The seed hairs and
pericarp of poplar trees were collected from the trees and on the ground in Beijing Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of
Sciences and around Miyun Reservoir during May 2005 for pollen analysis. Different pollen spectra are recorded from
different samples and are characterised by dominant occurrence of pollen grains of arboreal and anemophilous plants. In
addition, pollen grains of non-arboreal plants including grasses are also found trapped. Among the 46 trapped pollen grains,
26 are known to be allergenic. This study suggests that poplar seed hairs possibly make people feel uncomfortable due to the
presence of allergenic pollen trapped in the hairs.

Keywords: Airborne pollen, pollen allergy, pollen trap, Populus, seed hairs

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