Forensic palynology

Forensic palynology is a subdiscipline of palynology (the study of pollen grains, spores, etc.), to prove or disprove a relationship among objects, people and places that pertain to both criminal and civil cases.

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Pollen can reveal where a person or object has been, because regions of the world, countries, and even different parts of a garden will have a distinctive pollen assemblage.[1] Pollen evidence can also reveal the season in which a particular object picked up the pollen.[2] Pollen has been used to trace activity at mass graves in Bosnia,[3] catch a burglar who brushed against a Hypericum bush during a crime,[4] and has been proposed as an additive for bullets to enable tracking them.[5]

As an example of use in investigation of homicides, a dead body may be found in a wood. The clothes may contain pollen that was released after death (the time of death can be determined by forensic entomology). If it is found to be from a place other than where the body was found, this indicates that the body was moved after death.