An Investigation on Plants with Allergic Pollen: The Case of Rize Urban Open Green Areas

Abstract

With its environmental, social, and economic advantages, urban open and green areas play an essential role in improving the quality of life of city dwellers. Plants, which constitute the foundation of these areas, have both positive and detrimental effects on human health and provide numerous essential advantages to the urban ecosystem. One of these negative effects is that pollen causes allergic responses. The goal of this study was to identify allergenic plant taxa in Rize province's urban open green areas. In the Rize urban open green areas, 110 plant taxa that potentially induce allergic reactions were discovered as part of the study. These plants were evaluated in terms of family, life form, flowering period, allergen rate, protective case and location. As a result of this evaluation, from 110 plants; it was determined that 42 of them had low allergen rate, 26 of them had moderate allergen rate and 42 of them had high allergen rate. In addition, several proposals for using these species in planting design applications have been produced.