Australia Pollen Calendar: What's in Season, Month by Month
It's September, and cypress & cypress pine, London plane, silver birch, English oak, she-oak (casuarina) and pellitory (asthma weed) are usually at their peak in Australia. Another 2 types are still in the air too, including grasses (all) and ribwort plantain.
These windows are what a typical year looks like; the weather nudges them earlier or later. For what's actually in the air today, check the live pollen count for Melbourne or find your city.
Trees
Australia's tree season runs late winter into spring. Cypress and the native cypress pines open it from late July. London plane, the street tree of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, peaks around September, with birch and oak in the cooler cities through October and olive into early summer. She-oak sheds a little all year, most of it in early spring, with a smaller late-summer flush around February and March in Sydney.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cypress & cypress pine | in season | peak | peak | in season | ||||||||
| London plane | in season | peak | peak | in season | ||||||||
| Silver birch | in season | peak | peak | in season | ||||||||
| English oak | peak | peak | in season | |||||||||
| Olive | in season | peak | peak | |||||||||
| She-oak (casuarina) | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | peak | peak | in season | in season |
Grasses
Grass is Australia's dominant allergen, and it peaks in what Europeans would call the 'wrong' months. Temperate south-eastern cities peak October to December, driven above all by perennial ryegrass. Subtropical Brisbane runs on summer C4 grasses (couch, Bahia, Johnson), peaking in January and February with a tail into autumn.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grasses (all) | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak | ||||
| Perennial ryegrass | in season | in season | peak | peak | ||||||||
| Cocksfoot | in season | in season | peak | peak | ||||||||
| Couch (Bermuda) grass | peak | peak | in season | in season | in season | peak |
Weeds
The weed story is regional. Pellitory ('asthma weed') sheds most of the year on Sydney's walls and peaks spring into early summer; plantain flowers alongside and beyond the grass season; ragweed and parthenium matter mainly in south-east Queensland and northern NSW in late summer and autumn.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pellitory (asthma weed) | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak | peak |
| Ribwort plantain | in season | in season | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak | |||||
| Ragweed (Qld/NSW) | in season | peak | peak | peak | in season | |||||||
| Parthenium (Qld) | in season | in season | peak | peak | peak | in season |
When is hay fever season in Australia?
Australia’s seasons are the mirror image of the northern hemisphere’s. The year effectively starts in late July, when cypress and the native cypress pines open the tree season; plane, birch and oak carry spring through October. Then comes the main event: grass season runs from October into December in the temperate south-east, with November and December alone carrying most of Melbourne’s grass pollen for the year. Late October to December is also Victoria’s epidemic thunderstorm asthma risk window; when official health warnings are issued, take them seriously. The subtropics run on a different clock. Brisbane’s grass season peaks in January and February on summer-flowering couch, Bahia and Johnson grass, tailing into April, with ragweed and parthenium adding an autumn weed burden in Queensland and northern NSW. Perth and Adelaide sit between, with olive adding a distinctive November to December tree load around Adelaide. The quietest stretch almost everywhere is May and June. For what’s actually in the air today, check the live pollen count for Melbourne or find your city.
Is wattle causing my hay fever?
Probably not. Wattle blooms spectacularly in August to October and gets the blame every spring, but it is mainly insect-pollinated and releases relatively little airborne pollen. Symptoms in wattle season are far more often caused by the cypress, birch and early grass flying at the same time. The same goes for eucalypts, bottlebrush and paperbark: prominent flowers, mostly bird- and insect-pollinated, minor airborne load. Privet, a declared weed tree around Sydney, is a real but short-range irritant in late spring. Where a row uses one tracked species for a wider group (cypress for the cypress family including native cypress pine, she-oak for all casuarinas, grass overall for the untracked subtropical species), the window shown is for the group in Australia.
Frequently asked questions
When is grass pollen season in Melbourne?
Melbourne's grass pollen season runs from October to December, peaking from late November into early December; November and December alone carry most of the year's grass pollen. It is driven mainly by perennial ryegrass.
When is hay fever season in Brisbane?
Brisbane's worst stretch is summer into autumn: subtropical grasses (couch, Bahia, Johnson) peak January–February and tail into April, with ragweed and parthenium adding an autumn weed load.
When does pollen season end in Australia?
In the temperate south-east the main season winds down through summer as grass finishes; the subtropics carry grass and weeds into April. May and June are the quietest months almost everywhere.