It seems to always be pollen season here in the Lowcountry, especially to those with allergies (thankfully I’m not included in that population). Blankets of yellow powder coat cars each spring and pollen swirls to make patterns in local waterways that can be seen from aircrafts above. It’s not the most pleasant of times, but it is necessary for life.
Pollen is basically plant sperm. To get right to it, pollen is the male gametophyte working its way to find a female counterpart through wind, water or a pollinator in hopes to continue its reproductive cycle. Not all plants produce pollen, but almost all flowering and cone-bearing plants do. The release of pollen is weather dependent so our mild winters and early springs mean a relatively early pollen season here.
Pollen is an essential food
Palynivores like bees, mites and other insects rely on the solid portion of pollen for food as each grain is packed with essential nutrients. Other insects like butterflies, beetles and moths seek the liquid of pollen as part of its diet.
Interestingly, the fossil record shows us that flowering and cone-bearing plants co-evolved with palynivores because of mutualism where both the insect and the plant benefited from the relationship. Palynivores moved pollen from plant to plant while seeking nutrition and the plants were able to become pollinated and reproduce. Fossil evidence also shows that when there was a major diversification in plant life in the ancient past, there too was a major diversification in palynivores.
Furthermore, humans can benefit from incorporating pollen into their diets. It is touted as nature’s most perfect food -— rich in everything essential along with micronutrients hard to find in other sources of food.
There are varieties of pollen
Under the microscope, pollen is beautiful and morphologically diverse. Each species of plant produces its own unique type of pollen. They can vary in size and shape.
Pollen is hardy and cannot be easily crushed, dissolved or destroyed and can last for millions of years. Scientists look for pollen in lake, ice and marine sediment cores. They can determine which type of plant each pollen grain came from and what the environmental and climatic conditions were like at the time when the pollen was deposited. They can also infer the timing, intensity and overall rapidity to those environmental changes, which is crucial for understanding current trends and predicting future change.
Pollen has been around a long time
So the next time you get frustrated with the amount of pollen covering everything and making you sneeze, know that cone-bearing and flowering plants (which make up most plants on Earth) make life possible for us. Pollen is simply doing what it has been doing for more than 300 million years. To put geologic time into perspective, the earliest ancestor in our human lineage (Sahelanthropus) evolved 6 million to 7 million years ago. In essence, we live in their world. When we wash away their pollen from our cars, we are just helping plants reproduce.
Toni Reale is the owner of Roadside Blooms, a unique flower and plant shop in Park Circle in North Charleston. It specializes in weddings, events and everyday deliveries using nearly 100% American- and locally grown blooms. Online at roadsideblooms.com. 4610 Spruill Ave., Suite 102, North Charleston.
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