pollen

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In a message dated 5/27/2006 1:11:02 P.M. Central Standard Time, jgcrump@cox.net writes:

I'm adversely affected by heavy scents.  Learned years ago to be wary of heavy perfumes and the like!  So, I wasn't surprised when the scents from the irises started choking me. 

 

Griff, all of the incidences were I lost my voice were at Alvaton where I grew over an acre of irises.  It's true that I had a variety of trees also, but alas, it always was the worst in the middle of the iris beds!  I would stay as long as I could, and then hurry back into the house for relief.  

 

Looking back, I figured there was another contributing factor.  There were occasions when I actually ingested iris pollen.  When my children were young, I kept a list of plants that were reportedly poison for children.  Iris were on the list.  The fans were reported to contain some chemical that induces swelling of the throat . . . it wasn't a far stretch for me to include the pollen! 

 

More recently, I've seen newer reports that say this is not true . . . but I'm not going to test it.  <vbg>