What the actual fuck? Plant-riarchy?!
Are male trees and plants actually making me sick? Yes!! As a matter of fact they are.
Botanical Sexism is real and was adopted into urban planning practice by the USDA in 1949. the practice of planting only male trees and plants on city streets and urban areas- dates back to the 1949 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, which gave advice to the nation about best horticultural practices. "When used for street plantings only male trees should be selected, to avoid the nuisance from the seed." In the years following, says Horticulturist Tom Ogren, who coined the term in a Scientific American Article, the USDA produced and released into market a host of dioecious trees (trees which naturally have both male and female productive systems) which were all male.
Let me translate- the practice of asexual reproduction (grafting, cutting, budding) became popular with big commercial growers- because, if grown asexually the tree/plant will be the same sex as the tree/plant it came from- more importantly, it allows for the selection of controlled production of trees and plants with specific features like color, disease resistance, etc. In our case these "male plant-riarchy" trees and plants were mass produced to be without female characteristics.
American Elms, which donned the majority of American streets prior to Dutch Elm Disease, were replaced with the plant-riarchy, and by the mid 1980's, cities in the US were covered in male trees, and plant-riarchy landscape design.
Maybe all of one thing isn't the way to go?
Interestingly, along with plant-riarchy came the rise of asthma and extreme allergies. Dioecious male trees planted independently of dioecious females, causes the males to produce copious amounts of pollen in the air, which in turn causes coughing, sneezing, and respiratory issues. Tree pollen is one of the greatest offenders of not only allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and allergic asthma. More here
Can it really be that our tree and plant selection has been so driven by the desire to avoid work and still enjoy beauty? I can't help but think of the children's book, The Little Red Hen, where no one helps her grow, harvest, bake, but everyone wants to eat.
Question- Did we give our trees blue balls and get asthma as a gift? Is asthma actually a sexually transmitted airborne plant pathogen?!!!
Just feels like changing my teenage boys sheets or washing their socks. If you know you know, and if not...don't worry about it!
What You Can Do About Botanical Sexism
Read Tom Ogren's book and incorporate edible landscaping into your asthetic.
Avoid These Male Plant-riarchy Trees | aka: "Blue Ball Trees"
red maple and hybrid-maple-like trees
willows
poplars
aspens
ash
silver maples
pistache
mulberry
pepper tree
seedless cypress
pod-less honeylocust
Need a boost after that heavy read? Make some botanical crafts with these gorgeous stickers!!
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Our allergies are exacerbated by male trees trying to pollinate when no female trees are nearby! Wild.