Naturally Speaking: Pollen on the wind

Meteorologists take for granted that we accept grasses such as Timothy, as having flowers, and thereafter anthers dumping a gazillion pollen grains into the wind.

It’s with that premise they, the meteorologists, nightly tell us the day’s spore/pollen count of trees, grasses, weeds and fungi. Backing up, pollen develops in flowers and some cones. The major pollen problem-child plants are wind pollinated and produce enough pollen to make sure a tiny bit lands on the seed-forming flower (or cone), and almost everything else. Plants that are organism vector pollinated produce minuscule amounts of pollen, relative to plants that throw everything to the wind. So blame Timothy, named for Timothy Hanson, an American farmer, who helped to spread this type of hay to many states. Hey, maybe that’s why we call it hay fever.