Tucson Desert Broom
This is a pretty little flower isn’t it. It belongs to the desert broom which grows along roadsides and all though out Tucson as well as other places. This little flower is responsible for people having allergies that have never had allergies before.
I grew up in Ohio and lived in the country in Iowa. I could mow fields of ragweed and golden rod and come in from the field literally yellow with pollen. It never bothered me. No hay fever or allergies. I felt bad for my wife and kids that all seemed to be miserable with hay fever ever fall and prayed for the first frost to kill the plants and set them free for another year.
The first couple of years I must have been lucky, I didn’t notice any change moving to the desert. Then a couple of years ago I started getting really stuffy and my eyes would water and my nose would run. This started in October each year and ran for a couple of months.
Talking to some other transplants and doing a little reading I discovered the desert broom. This plant has male and female species and the female has the bright white plumage that seems like puffy cotton floating on the wind. But the one that seems to kick in everyone’s allergies is the pollen from the male that isn’t even visible. This is usually in full force a couple of weeks before the female blossoms are full.
I’ve been taking Walgreen’s generic version of claritin for the past couple of years during this season. It seems to work fine for me. Well sure enough about three days ago I woke up with all the symptoms. Today hiking in Pima Canyon I saw some of the first blossoms of the season.
If you are new to Tucson and you have never had allergies before, Oh and if you have had allergies you can still be allergic to the desert broom aren’t you lucky, you just might be allergic to the desert broom.
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