Is some pollen more likely to provoke an allergic reaction than others? We are thinking of planting a tree or shrub like a smoke bush (Cotinus) and would like to know if this means more sniffing in our house when it flowers?
Here's one list (source):
10 worst plants for your allergies:
And from here (See below for more from this source):
This list does include smoke tree.
What I thought was interesting was that most (but not all) of these are inconspicuous flowering wind pollinated plants. Most trees that get insect pollinated don't produce allergies as much because not so much pollen is drifting off the plant. One good seach before buying a plant is how it gets pollinated.
Apparently, at least American smoke trees are insect pollinated, but dioecious. I haven't found anything yet on the pink smoke tree. Again, from here, dioecious trees will cause more allergies because the pollen must be transported farther. If the people at your house suffer from pollen allergies, you might want to plant the trees a good way from the house, although this page says it shouldn't be an issue.
Below is copied information from the allergyware.wordpress.com site for those who cannot access the page.
Well technically, anything that flowers and has pollen could be an issue - it would be safer to choose something with double flowers and avoid the pollen altogether, since double flowers either don't produce pollen, or it can't get out or be got at.
I was told the commonest pollen reaction is to grass when it flowers, followed by some trees like birch, but reactions to different pollens seem to be quite individual in some ways, meaning that some people seem to react to any pollen, but lots of others only to very specific ones. Unfortunately, I can attest to that fact myself - I have a significant problem when Tilia is in flower, but not otherwise, unless you count pollution related 'hay fever' affecting nose and eyes, which I find is a problem almost year round here. And you won't find out if Cotinus causes a significant problem when in flower unless you try, its certainly no worse or better than anything else. You could plant the Royal Purple version of this shrub instead - it produces fewer flowers and is a thing of beauty when in leaf, but doesn't have that hazy, smokey effect of the plain green version when in flower.
Really, its down to whether pollen is transported by the wind from particular plants, or whether it sits tight inside the flower unless disturbed by an insect - that's a bit of a big research project!