‘Summer snow’ is Moscow’s bane

For the last 50 years it has been “snowing” throughout Moscow’s summer thanks to the pods of the city’s poplar trees. And while the streets and parks may look dreamy, “pukh” is every hay-fever sufferer’s nightmare.

It is said that Joseph Stalin, seeking a quick-fix to the rapidly growing concrete jungle, needed an even faster growing tree to green the capital, but in error officials planted only female trees – disregarding horticultural advice to plant the tuftless “male” variety.

Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker reports from Moscow on the season’s coughing and sneezing.