GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2018, 05(02), 126–131 Available online at GSC Online Press Directory GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences e-ISSN: 2581-3250, CODEN (USA): GBPSC2 Journal homepage: https://www.gsconlinepress.com/journals/gscbps  Corresponding author E-mail address: Copyright © 2018 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0. (R ESEARCH A RTICLE ) Pollen allergy in relation to palynology and taxonomy of flowering plants at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Yelwa Campus Bauchi, Bauchi State Deba Fatima Aliyu 1, * , Ibrahim Yusuf Okpanachi 2 and Ezra Abalis Gaya 1 1 Department of Biological Science, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria. 2 Department of Botany, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Publication history: Received on 08 October 2018; revised on 17 November 2018; accepted on 20 November 2018 Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/gscbps.2018.5.2.0112 Abstract Pollen is a crucial part in flowering plants with a special structure and function. Pollens produce metabolites like proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids and vitamins that are responsible for their physiological and metabolic activities. These metabolites cause various types of allergies in humans. Samples and records were taken at the Yelwa campus of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. Fifty (51) species of pollens belonging to 28 families were identified. The most dominant families were Meliaceae, Fabaceae and Anacardiaceae. The family with most pollen was Fabaceae at 29.05 % followed by the Meliaceae at 12.11 % and Anacardiaceae 10.10%. The highest pollen counts were in the month of November (368) followed by December (340). Correlation was used to determine the relationship between pollen distribution and some meteorological parameters. It was observed that pollen concentration correlated positively with air pressure, temperature, wind direction and negatively correlated with rainfall and relative humidity. Allergic data gathered from Yelwa campus showed more allergic cases during the month of November and December. This study suggest that pollen may be the causative agents of most allergic cases in the studied area. Keywords: Allergies; Pollen; Temperature; Relative humidity; Rainfall 1. Introduction Pollen is a crucial part in the flowering plants with a special structure and function. Pollen is a single celled microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce sperm cells. Pollen grains have exine, which protects the sperm cells during movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants. Numbers of metabolites pollen grain contains like proteins; nucleic acids; carbohydrates, lipids and vitamins which are responsible for their physiological and metabolic activities [1]. Pollen grains releases proteins and other chemical metabolites in the environment at different rates and in different quantities depending primarily on specific differences. Such differences are responsible for the different types of allergic reactions caused by pollen grains [2]. Pollen concentration in the atmosphere depends partly on pollen dispersal of local flora and partly on the atmospheric transport of pollen from adjacent and distant regions. In analyzing the temporal and spatial variations of pollen concentrations; it is also necessary to address the meteorological and environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, sunshine durations, wind speed and direction [3], [4], [5]. These factors are crucial both for the release of the pollen grains and for their atmospheric transport [6], [7].