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Ambrosia trifida

Common name:	Giant Ragweed	Family:	Compositae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	222, 235
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	The pollen of this plant is a major cause of hayfever in N. America[222]. Ingesting or touching the plant can cause allergic reactions in some people[222].
Range:	Eastern N. America - Quebec to Florida, west to Manitoba, Colorado and Mexico.
Habitat:	Alluvial waste places, sometimes forming vast pure stands[222].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	3

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Driedelige Ambrosia [D], Giant Ragweed [L], Great Ragweed [S,P,L,B], Ragweed, Great [S],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	trifida = 3 lobed;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: California, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, South Australia, Western Australia.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 2m. . It is in flower from August to October. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 3/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Oil.

This plant was cultivated by the pre-Columbian N. American Indians, seeds found in pre-historic sites are 4 - 5 times larger than those of the present-day wild plant, which seems to indicate selective breeding by the Indians[207]. The following report is for A. artemesifolia, it quite possibly also applies to this species[K].

An oil is obtained from the seed. It has been suggested for edible purposes because it contains little linolenic acid[61, 183]. The seed contains up to 19% oil[61], it has slightly better drying properties than soya bean oil[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antidote; Astringent; Emetic; Poultice; Skin; Women's complaints.

The leaves are very astringent, emetic and febrifuge[222, 257]. They are applied externally to insect bites and various skin complaints, internally they are used as a tea in the treatment of pneumonia, fevers, nausea, intestinal cramps, diarrhoea and mucous discharges[222].
The juice of wilted leaves is disinfectant and is applied to infected toes[257].
A tea made from the roots is used in the treatment of menstrual disorders and stroke[222].
The pollen is harvested commercially and manufactured into pharmaceutical preparations for the treatment of allergies to the plant[222].

Other Uses

Dye.

A red colour is obtained from the crushed heads[207]. (This probably refers to the seed heads[K].) The sap of the plant can stain the skin red[274].

Cultivation details

We have very little information on this species but suggest growing it in a sunny position in a well-drained soil[K].
This plant is sometimes cultivated by the N. American Indians for food and medicine[207].

Propagation

Seed - we have no details for this species but suggest sowing the seed in situ in April.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[S] SW USA Dist. Maps from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[S] Illustration from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

Ambrosia trifida

David Murray () Mon Feb 03 20:15:50 2003

Hi.

First, I'd like to say that I really enjoy your site.

Next, I thought you'd like to know about a slight typo... In your Ambrosia trifida fact sheet, you list A. F. Hill's Economic Botany as a source, "the seed contains up to 19% oil [171]."

But, if you look in the book, the entries go from ragi to railroad cars, and from Ambergris to Ammoniacum. This book doesn't say a thing about ragweed. However, the bit about the oil is mentioned in your source #61, A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man -nearly word-for-word.

So, you might want to switch [61] for [171], and leave out the latter.

-Nearly drove me mad; I kept looking through the book and the index, going back and forth until I wrote it all down. :)

Oh yeah, one more thing... male and female flowers are separate: male flowers form most of the terminal cluster, while the female flowers are very inconspicuous and are found at the base of the cluster. -They are not hermaphroditic. And they are Wind pollinated (hense all that allergen trouble).

Well, thank you for listening to me rant about my favorite plant. And once again, you've got a wonderful website!

-David Murray

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