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- In May every year,doctors in the Kashmir Valley treats a high number of patients, especially children with respiratory diseases.
- The rise in illness has often been attributed to a phenomenon during this season which is the shedding of fluffy cotton-covered seeds by poplar trees commonly known as “Russian poplars”.
- The name “Russian poplar” is a misnomer and has nothing to do with Russia. The tree is a Western American species known as Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) in the US.The species is locally called as Russi Frass.
- The Russian poplar trees was introduced in Kashmir in 1982 from the US under a Word Bank-aided social forestry scheme.
- The species takes less time (10-15 years) to grow, as compared to the Kashmir poplar that takes 30-40 years.Due to their high yield,poplars are intensively used in the timber and construction industry.
- However,during summers,female poplar sheds a cotton-like material carrying seeds that cause allergies and aggravate respiratory disorders. This cotton has become an irritant in the recent past for the locals as well as tourists.
- In 2015,Jammu & Kashmir High Court had ordered chopping of all Russian poplars in the Valley.However,Some scientists has said that the seeds from these trees do not cause allergy.



