We spent Easter with our daughter’s family in Pottstown, which is located in Montgomery County. Their magnolia tree, forsythia bushes, tulips and daffodils were all in bloom. On our trip home on Monday, we noticed many lawns being mowed, and commented on how good newly cut grass smells.

In a few minutes, Mary Alice sneezed and before long, her eyes were watering and she was scraping her throat. This lasted while we traveled north. When we neared Lewisburg all symptoms ceased.

Plants like animals must obey the laws of eugenics, which is the science of improving by selective breeding. Eugenics is a Greek word and means “good stock.” The most unrelenting of these laws is that inbreeding weakens a race, whereas cross-breeding strengthens and perpetuates. An organism equipped with a variety of characteristics can cope with life better than an organism with a single set of characteristics.

Pollen produced by nature is a major cause of sneezing.

Most trees are wind pollinated so that they can pollinate a tree miles away. The wind pollen tree flowers are designed not only to multiply anthers but also to make it easy for the pollen to be snatched up by the wind.

Considering that the pollen’s target, which is the size of a pinhead, must be hit by a microscopic grain of pollen at exactly the right time and that the distance the pollen might have to travel could be miles, one has to wonder how this tiny grain can hit the target. The pollen lacks any motive power of its own and depends on the wind to take it on the journey.

Wind pollination calls for vast numbers of grains to be discharged into the air and by the law of averages, some little pinhead target waiting for the pollen of its species will be hit. Although this method is efficient, the waste is staggering because of a million grains thrown into the air, perhaps only one will be used.

The plant world has begun generating an abundance of pollen, and people with allergies will be sneezing and sneezing. Of course, after every sneeze you hear “God Bless You.”

Our word sneeze comes from an old English word fnesan and changed sometime in the 14th century in Middle English to fnese. Both words are a distant relative of the Greek word pneuma, which means breath.

Saint Gregory has been credited with originating the custom of saying “God Bless You” after someone sneezed. This came about because Europe was being ravaged by the plague, in which sneezing was one of the early symptoms. In Britain, when a sneeze is heard, some still say “God bless you and may you not get the plague.”

The phrase held that sneezing indicated that evil spirits were present. Even Native American tribes believed the sneeze had something to do with evil spirits. It is said there are people all over the world who believe that the nose is a door, which lets the soul out and the devil in.

Sneezing is a sudden and violent rush of air coming out through the nose. Unlike blowing the nose, sneezing is involuntary. It is caused by irritation of the sensory nerves of the nose and is a spontaneous effort of the body to remove the cause of irritation.

When a person sneezes, thousands of tiny droplets are violently ejected from the nose and mouth. These little particles of moisture travel about 150 feet a second and as far as twelve feet. They carry germs, which spread colds and similar diseases. The germs may live in the air for days after the drops evaporate.

The following are some folklore about sneezing:

• When you sneeze once, this is a good time to make a wish. Sneeze twice, and you will be kissed; sneeze three times, and you will be disappointed; four sneezes, someone will deliver you a letter. Five consecutive sneezes, someone will bring you something new and six sneezes indicate you will go on a journey.

• If you sneeze while trying to convince someone that you are telling the truth, the sneeze proves you right.

• In Germany, it is bad luck to sneeze while putting on a shoe.

It is often said that a particular thing is not to be sneezed at, meaning we should not take it lightly.

In the book, Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol wrote:

“Speak roughly to your little boy,

“And beat him when he sneezes:

“He only does it to annoy

“Because he knows it teases.”

Sneezeweed is the common name for plants in the genus Helenium of the family asteraceae. There are 40 species of sneezeweed native to North America. Most are perennial with flat-topped clusters of yellow-brown or red flower heads and leaves that are alternate on the stems. Summer or fall blooming species are cultivated as border plants.

The number one villain for hay fever sufferers is the ragweed, which belongs to this family. There are two kinds of ragweed growing in eastern United States, the common or short ragweed and the tall or giant ragweed. Both are very common and grow on neglected farmland and waste place, roadside ditches, etc.

It has been estimated that it takes 25 grains per cubic yard of air to give people hay fever. Each spike on a common ragweed plant gives enough pollen to contaminate 240,000 cubic yards of air. There are hundreds of flowering spikes on each ragweed plant. When scientists checked out the giant ragweed plant, they arrived at a figure of 21 million grains coming from each tall plant. As a pollen dispenser, they have few equals.

Of course, people with hay fever will not have to worry about the ragweed pollen until this fall. However, other plants in our area will be giving off an abundance of pollen.

So hay fever sufferers beware, you will be in for a long spring, summer and fall. Maybe, by the end of next fall, you will welcome the first snowfall of winter of 2026.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.