London Plane Tree Pollen

The London plane is the capital's most common street tree — and a genuine hayfever aggravator. In late spring it releases pollen plus fine hairs from its seed balls that irritate eyes, nose and airways, and those hairs can carry other pollen and pollution with them.

Because plane trees line so many roads, exposure is hard to avoid outdoors. The practical answer is to make your home — especially the bedroom — a low-pollen refuge.

When it peaks

London plane pollen is generally heaviest from late April into June, overlapping birch (spring) and grass (early summer) — which is why so many Londoners feel hayfever runs for months.

Reducing your exposure

• Keep bedroom windows shut on dry, breezy days; check the Met Office pollen forecast.
• Run a purifier overnight to clear pollen that gets in on clothes and through gaps.
• Shower and change after being out among the trees.

Why the plane tree defines a London spring

No tree is more bound up with the look of London than the plane. It lines the Embankment, shades Berkeley Square and Russell Square, marches down countless residential streets in Islington, Camden and Southwark, and fills the great parks — there are simply tens of thousands of them across the capital. That resilience to pollution and cramped roots is exactly why Victorian planners loved it, and exactly why hayfever sufferers cannot easily walk away from it. Wherever you live inside the North and South Circular, you are rarely more than a street or two from one.

Its trouble is twofold. In late spring — broadly late April into June — it releases wind-borne pollen at the same time birch is fading and grass is ramping up, so sensitised Londoners feel an almost unbroken run of symptoms. Then there are the fine hairs shed from its bristly seed balls, which break up and drift as an irritant dust that scratches at the eyes, nose and throat even in people who do not react to the pollen itself. Those same hairs can ferry other pollen and traffic soot along with them, which is why a plane-lined arterial road can feel especially rough on a dry, breezy afternoon.

Turning the bedroom into a low-pollen refuge

Because you cannot realistically dodge the trees, the winning strategy is to defend the indoor air where you spend the night. Pollen and hairs ride indoors on clothing, hair and through open windows, then settle and get stirred up again. A high-airflow purifier left running in the bedroom clears that load through the night, so you wake with far less in the air around you.

• See the room-by-room case for filtering where you sleep in our bedroom air purifier guide.
• For the wider seasonal picture, our air purifier for hayfever page explains which filter grade traps pollen best.
• If tree and grass pollen overlap with other triggers, the broader air purifier for allergies guide is worth a read.
• Symptoms rarely stop when summer ends — the second wave is covered in autumn pollen and pollution in London.

Combine that with the simple habits below — shutting windows on high-pollen mornings, showering after being out among the trees — and the plane tree stops dictating how your spring feels indoors.