Nobody seems to know why ragweed, best known for bedeviling allergy sufferers worldwide, is a member of
genus Ambrosia, the Greek food of the gods said to be responsible for the gods'
immortality. Perhaps, as this Wikipedia article suggests, the name simply refers to
ragweeds' own apparent immortality: they are robust competitors considered by many to
be invasive, and are among the few plants that show up on more noxious weed lists than
on naturalist web sites. Ragweed is a North American native plant.
Identification: Plants are 8-79″ (20-200 cm) tall, with stems
that are green, pink-purple, or purple-spotted, with long, rough hairs. They are fairly easy to miss—even
when in flower, they tend to blend in with their surroundings.
Leaves are deeply divided, a bit similar to carrot leaves, 1½-4″ (4-10 cm) long, pinnate or
bipinnate. Flowerheads are long (1-4″ (2.5-10 cm)) and narrow, covered with tiny yellow flowers 1/16-⅛″ (2-4 mm)
in size. At first the flowers are green.
Medical: Goldenrods, the widespread, showy, yellow-topped weeds, are often blamed for causing allergies because they disperse pollen at the same time that
ragweed does. But ragweed is the culprit. As for medicinal benefits for ragweed, I wasn't
able to find any.