The average pine tree, for example, produces more than 100 billion pollen grains. Second, pollen has a very durable outer wall, called the exine, which can stay intact for a very long time. Examples have been found that are 250 million years old. Third, the general shape and the surface features of pollen vary between plant species, yet they are the same in all plants within the same species. Pollen, in sum, is plentiful, hardy, identifiable and traceable to its point of origin.
Plants can produce a staggering amount of pollen.
Swedish scientists estimate that the spruce forests in the southern third of their country release more than 75,000 tons of pollen into the atmosphere each year. The rate of pollen production is an important factor in palynology. With the Shroud of Turin, for example, we must ask if the types and amounts of pollen on the shroud match the pollen patterns in Jerusalem. For example, in a case that took place in New Zealand in 1995-1996, a young woman was attacked and killed in a botanical garden. The suspect was convicted.