Ever Wonder Why You Have Bad Allergies? The Reason Is Pretty Wild

If you have seasonal allergies, you know they can be miserable, with symptoms ranging from sneezing to itchy eyes to even trouble breathing.

Research says landscaping decisions in big cities could be making your symptoms worse. It’s a battle of the sexes involving plants, not people.

“There’s no gender balance in cities anymore,” said horticulturist and author Tom Ogren.

Ogren coined the phrase botanical sexism. He says city planners and urban landscapers prefer to plant male trees over female trees because they’re easier to maintain. The problem is, that may be making your allergies worse.

“The males produce millions of flowers, and each flower has hundreds of anthers that produce tons of pollen. The female trees produce seeds. They produce no pollen,” he explained.

But female trees do produce fruit and seeds, which litter sidewalks and streets, and that can get messy.

That’s why he says urban areas don’t have many female trees, which means the pollen from male trees isn’t getting absorbed and instead ends up in the air.