The lice grass, also called the sagebrush, affects more than 120 million people across the planet and is the most resistant plant in the world.
In Quebec, we find this bad grass on the side of the roads, in the soy fields and the corn fields, among others.
“If she is expanding, it is because her habitat is created. In North America, it’s been a good time. Here, it is because of the roads and agricultural fields, ”explains Claude Lavoie, biologist and full professor at the School of Regional Planning and Regional Development of Laval University.
The fields of sunflowers are part of the same family as the lice grass, so “it is difficult to fight one without affecting the other”, according to Mr. Lavoie.
In addition, soy is a very vulnerable culture to lice grass.
The plant creates strong allergies which, previously, extended from mid-August in mid-September. Now, people who suffer from hay fever suffer from mid-July and sometimes until the beginning of November.
“Warming up climate allows the plant to thrive. She will bloom earlier and die later. What comes to the end of the plant is frost, so if the gels occur later, it will continue to flower. This is quite that the allergies season is getting longer, ”explains Mr. Lavoie.
He adds that “people who are sensitive are sick longer and more intensely”.
A little story
Lice grass has been combat for decades.
“There were many wasteland fields after the 1929 crisis. The abandoned fields therefore gave expansion to the plant,” says Lavoie.
The population was tearing the lice grass in hand in the 1930s.
“In Chicago in 1932, from memory, there were 4,200 people who was tearing away the grass from lice, they did this for 25 cents per day. With the war, it faded and people had a job. Then, in the mid -1940s, the herbicides arrived. There were 3.2 million liters who were sprayed every summer, ”he continues.
The plant subsequently developed a resistance to herbicides. “The population therefore threw the towel.”
A miracle remedy?
Although today antihistamines work to fight allergies at the time, it was a whole different story.
At the end of the 19th century, people did not know that they suffered from an allergy.
“It started with whiskey, it’s good, but it is not used for much!” At the end of the 19th century, another solution was cocaine. It was sold in spray In pharmacies, so imagine the result! There are so -called miracle drugs that have been invented by charlatans, ”says Lavoie.
At the time, wacky solutions were also considered, like going to live on the 13th floor, making plane towers or fasting for 40 days.
“All kinds of solutions as strange as each other, but which were not effective. Sometimes, even it was deadly. We prescribed poisons.
«[…] People also thought that it was an imaginary disease or that some people affected were mental patients, ”adds Mr. Lavoie.
It was in 1910 that we finally discovered what an allergy was and that we were able to associate the pollen from the hairy to lice grass.
There is therefore no miracle remedies to this invasive plant, but antihistamines can relieve several symptoms.
Cities more affected than others
In Quebec, Granby and Montérégie are among the cities where there are many lice herbs, according to Mr. Lavoie.
“There are also countries like Hungary, it’s almost worse than here, it is completely invaded by lice grass. In Lyon, in France, it’s also worse! This is where the epicenter of the French invasion is located. So there are regions that should be avoided for people who suffer from allergies. ”
On the other hand, the least affected regions are in Gaspésie, in Bas-Saint-Laurent and on the North Shore.
Several cities ask citizens to tear this plant when it is on private land.
On the Granby side, we could not know if the city made a request for the citizens or if it was responsible for tearing it off on public land.
According to Mr. Lavoie, the solution is “to set up even more aggressive plant covers that occupy the same ecological niche. It would compete with lice grass and fight it. ”
According to him, there is also a reflection to be made at the level of agriculture by seeing things differently.
While waiting for this plant to be eradicated, handkerchiefs and pills against allergies are the best allies for the next few weeks.
