The Patriarchy of Pollen: Uncovering the Gender Bias in Urban Landscaping
This month, despite taking daily allergy medication, my allergies were so severe I was prescribed a steroid inhaler and told to take Flonase. Over the last week, I have noticed our car has been covered in a yellow powdery film of pollen. One morning, while looking at the pollen, I remembered a family member making a claim that male trees were to blame for the excess pollen and an increase in allergies. She claimed an arborist told her there were more male trees planted and they were responsible for the excessive pollen. I didn’t bother making a further inquiry because the thought that male trees were somehow favored seemed far fetched. I am amazed by the things I continue to learn – botanical sexism does exist.
Botanical Sexism Does Exist
“Botanical sexism” is a term used to describe a bias in favor of male plants over female plants in urban landscaping and horticulture. This bias often stems from a desire to avoid the messiness of female plants shedding seeds, fruits, or flowers. As a result, male plants, which don’t produce such “messy” reproductive structures, are often preferred for landscaping purposes.
Tom Ogren, a horticulturalist, pollen expert, and the author of the book “ Allergy-Free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Landscaping,” coined the term “botanical sexism” and extensively discusses the concept. Ogren was the first to link urban planning in cities with the exacerbation of allergies.
Preference
When Ogren moved to San Luis Obispo, over 30 years ago, he wanted to rid his property of all plants and trees that may contribute to his wife’s asthma and allergies. This is when he first noticed that all the plants in the city were male. When he started to examine landscaped plants in other cities he noticed all the plants were male as well. According to this 2019 article, Botanical Sexism’ Could Be Behind Your Seasonal Allergies, Orgen tracked down the origins of the trend in the 1949 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture that advised “[w]hen used for street plantings, only male trees should be selected, to avoid the nuisance from the seed.” The thinking was pollen would be naturally removed and easier to manage over the mess left behind from female trees that would require manual labor to remove. Ogren realized that most of the trees being planted, going back 50 years or more, were males.
Allergy Free Gardening
Orgen developed the Ogren Plant Allergy Scale a system for rating plants based on their potential to produce allergenic pollen. It ranks plants on a scale from 1 to 10, with lower numbers indicating plants that are less likely to cause allergies and higher numbers indicating plants that are more likely to trigger allergic reactions. The Ogren Plant Allergy Scale was developed to help individuals, landscapers, and urban planners make informed decisions about plant selection, particularly in urban environments where allergies are a common concern. By choosing low-allergen plants and minimizing the planting of highly allergenic species, it is possible to create landscapes that are more allergy-friendly and conducive to good health.
Ogren now has support backing his theory including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and USDA Forestry Service.
Awareness
I learned something new. The concept of “botanical sexism” sheds light on the bias toward male plants in urban landscaping and its potential impact on allergies. While it is unlikely to have any change in the immediate future, there’s hope for mitigating the effects of botanical sexism and promoting landscapes that benefit both people and ecosystems. For the time being, you have an interesting topic you can discuss when you are at a dinner party.