Yep, just a little bit of pixie dust.

Tracking the 'Cedar Pollen Front'

Here's the cedar pollen front.

These are little bits of individual grains of pollen there and there.

Perhaps there's more pollen in the city.

The Annual Japanese Agony of Cedar Pollen

By looking at the proportions and combinations of different kinds of pollen in a sample, you can tell very precisely where it came from.

Jonathan Drori Every pollen grain has a story

A cedar tree releases clouds of allergy inducing pollen.

But pollen forensics can be very subtle.

These are little bits of individual grain of pollen there and there, and here is a what you see as one little yellow dot of pollen, when you look in a microscope, it's actually made of thousands of little grains of pollen.

And of course, they're made to carry this pollen.

That's the stamen. That's thousands of little grains of pollen there, and there's the pistil there.

Now, much of the pollen will still be there after repeated washings.

And there is as many different kinds of pollen as there are flowering plants.

A different pollen signature, if you like, or a different pollen fingerprint.

A related process to anemochory is anemophily, which is the process where pollen is distributed by wind.

And here what you see is one little yellow dot of pollen, when you look in the microscope it's actually made of thousands of little grains of pollen.

So, not only does each type of pollen look different, but each habitat has a different combination of plants. A different pollen signature, if you like, or a different pollen fingerprint.

Some of it even came from lianas, those things that dangle in the middle of the jungle.

Many insects have been used by plants as vectors for the transport of the pollination, but not just insects even birds, reptiles, and mammals like bats rats are normally used for the transportation of the pollen.

Many animals pollinate flowers in exchange for food in the form of pollen or nectar.

Lots of evidence from sediment cores and the pollen types, oxygen isotopes and so on.

We have the plants that are giving to the animals a kind of sweet substance very energizing having in change this transportation of the pollen.

It confused me why did these allergy symptoms persist well past the pollen season?

I hope I've opened your eyes, if you'll excuse the visual pun, to some of pollen's secrets.

Japanese company Unipac has even developed an air conditioner filter capable of absorbing about 99 percent pollen within an hour.

Wind has a very important role in aiding plants and other immobile organisms in dispersal of seeds, spores, pollen, etc.

The best time for gathering is the 7th day of the 7th month.

Here are some examples they're very smooth if you look at them of tree pollen that is meant to be carried by the wind.

So, different species of plants grow in different places, and some pollen carries further than others.

I hope I've opened your eyes, if you'll excuse the visual pun, (Laughter) to some of pollen's secrets.

Asthma large number, we could detect things like pollen count, air quality, respiratory rate.

So that's thousands of little grains of pollen there, and there's the pistil there, and these are the little things called trichomes.

So, not only does each type of pollen look different, but each habitat has a different combination of plants.

Clouds of pollen also move from north to south, wreaking havoc on hay fever sufferers' sinuses in the process.

like him that has managed to bring out the best in pollen.

So, if you have a pollen sample, then in principle, you should be able to tell where that sample came from.

Many of these trees are at least 50 years old their peak pollen producing age.

On the bright side, it's a boon for the companies that produce pollen filtering masks.

So in an apple orchard, for instance, you'll have rows of 10 apples of one variety, and then you have another apple tree that's a different type of pollen.

And they're also collecting nectar and that's what makes the honey that we eat.

And they're also collecting nectar, and that's what makes the honey that we eat.

Cedar pollen production peaks in late March to early April and then steadily declines, while cypress pollination lags behind by about a month.

Japan's urbanization has also eliminated many of the farms and windbreaks that had once helped keep much of the pollen from reaching the city.