An article was posted this week on NPR blaming seasonal allergies on botanical sexism, a term coined by Tom Ogren, horticulturalist and author. He attributes America’s love for male trees to ‘exacerbated allergies’. The article claims that urban forestry is biased towards dioecious male trees. It’s an interesting theory, that cleaning up pollen was thought to be an easier and a fix-all for messy fruits. On the flip-side, if all female plants had been planted instead, there would be no fruits OR pollen. Female flowers can’t set fruits without pollen.
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