Click on the name of a different pollen below to find out more about it,
or click on the other microscope for a different view of this pollen.

Bur Oak Cattail Cocklebur Cottonwood
Dandelion Kentucky Bluegrass Pigweed Ragweed
River Birch Russian Thistle Sunflower White Pine
Plant:Pollen:Microscope:

Pigweed
Amaranthus retroflexus

This adaptable plant is also called careless weed because of its happy-go-lucky attitude about where it grows. Pigweed pollen is spread by wind, and it causes many cases of late summer hay fever. Pigweed flowers are small and green and hard to see individually. You can tell when the plant is in bloom, though, because of the thick clusters of flowers at the top of the plant and at the ends of branches. The male flowers go on blooming and shedding pollen for many months. You're likely to find pigweed in your yard or along fields, roads, and fences. The reason pigweed is adaptable to different places is that each plant makes an amazing number of seeds, hundreds of thousands, all of them a little different. Some of these seeds have the ability to grow where their mother plant can't grow. Pigweed is a treat for hogs, and that's how it got its name. The tough-looking leaves are actually tender and tasty. Pigs have been known to turn up their snouts at corn when they spot pigweed nearby.