During the Spring there can often be seen a yellow dust like substance in the forest which may rest on vehicles, cottage furniture, other trees and plants as well as the forest floor. On lakes it can be found along the shore. This year (2020) there was a bumper deposit of the yellow dust. Everything was yellow from about 15ft from the shore and it was dense, in little rock pools it was a couple of inches thick above the water level and while not as dense it could be seen several feet into the water. This yellow pollen is from pine trees. Pine trees have 2 sets of cones, the big ones we are the most familiar (female) with and little ones that contain the pollen (male). If you bang on a pine tree this time of year (late June) it comes off like a big dust storm. After it sits in the water for a while it starts to decompose and smells like open sewage. There are a lot of pine trees along the Point which can be seen at the top of the photograph and the wind brought it all to this shore, along the point you’d never know there was any. This whole process takes a couple of week and eventually what remains is a line on the rocky shore which indicates the water level when the event took place.
While it would be dangerous to simply scoop it up and ingest the yellow pine pollen a Google search reveals it has many health benefits for people such as as anti-ageing, reducing fatique and increasing testosterone levels. A search on Amazon will show its availability in tablets and capsules from a variety of sources. However it is recommended that if you do want to use it only do so with the advise of a qualified physician as it could cause severe allergic reactions or other conditions.
