Subject: Re: What common name for Brassica rapa?
From: [email-masked] (Bill Williams)
Date: 8 Jul 1994 18:56:06 GMT
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

In article <[email-masked]>
[email-masked] (Dr S T May) writes:

> In my personal opinion...oil-seed rape gets an unfair deal in this respect
> and probably gets it because it is a fairly recent and VERY visible crop.

Yes, there is a similar phenomenon common on this side of the Atlantic
in the spring:  the pine trees (very common in our area) shed tons and
tons of pollen, yellowing cars and streaking lakes and streams with
yellow rivulets of pollen.  Everyone sneezes.  "Look at all the pollen;
no wonder" they say.  But as far as I know virtually no one (bound to
be exceptions) is allergic to pine pollen.  It's really the flowering
trees and especially the grasses, whose pollen is not nearly so
obvious, that they're allergic to, but they blame it on the pines
because they can see the pollen.
_______________________________
Bill Williams
[email-masked]
Dept. of Biology
St. Mary's College of Maryland