Pollen calendar Pollen calendar A pollen calendar is used to show the peak pollen times for different types of plant pollen, which causes allergic reactions in certain people. A pollen calendar can be a very useful tool in forensic science, because it can be used to place the month, or week, or date of death. The use of pollen for criminal investigation purposes is called "forensic palynology". However, the use of a pollen calendar to set the date of death should be used with extreme caution, and only by a carefully trained expert witness. The CSI effect has put pressure on some
Hilum (biology) such a mark, and can be used as a distinguishing characteristic of a seed or spore. Hilum (biology) In botany, a hilum (pronounced ) is a scar or mark left on a seed coat by the former attachment to the ovary wall or to the funiculus (which in turn attaches to the ovary wall). On a bean seed, the hilum is called the "eye". For some species of fungus, the hilum is the microscopic indentation left on a spore when it separates from the sterigma of the basidium. A hilum can also be a nucleus of a starch grain; the