Talk:Ragweed

fyi, it is a billion grains of pollen per season (vs. day, month, etc)

thanks Katarah

Insects
I'm removing the sentence "They do not host many insects". They host plenty! see HOSTS - thats just Lepidoptera. Richard Barlow 14:12, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

Unclear part

 * The major allergen protein has been identified as Amb a 1, a 38 kDa nonglycosylated protein, as well other allergens such as profilin and Ca++-binding proteins.

What does the second part of the sentence mean? I'm going to delete it for now. --Kjoonlee 14:40, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Spores
Somebody wrote that the plant has tremendous spore-producing capability. As flowering plants don't produce any spore, this sentence must be changed. But did they mean seed or what? Is spore a synonim of seed or something else in common, non-botanical english? Thanks Aelwyn 08:30, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

re: spores
Plants such as ragweed do not produce spores. The pollen is comparable to sperm, being produced on the male portion of the plant. It is the transported to the female portion, via wind or insects. After fertilization seeds develop. Spores are involved in mold reproduction. Mllmd 17:09, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Control and Eradication
The act of manually uprooting ragweeds, sometimes shown in the media for public awareness and propaganda purposes, is best avoided. It is ineffective, and skin contact may cause the onset of full-blown hayfever symptoms in persons with latent ragweed hyper-sensitivity.

I am not sure I agree with this. If you are allergic, then no, you shouldn't handle them; however, ragweed is fairly easy to manually uproot, and if the a ragweed's root is uprooted below the soil, it won't regrow. Once it grows tall though, a good deal of strength is needed to uproot it, so it is best done early (usually before mid-August). I find that the weeds are actually rather fun to uproot - again, as long as you are not allergic. This is all from personal experience, but sites such as this Canadian city's, (see page 5 if you go visit that link), briefly mention that uprooting is effective if done early. Midtempo-abg 17:31, 13 August 2007 (UTC) []

global warming
The references to global warming should be edited to state that global warming is only a theory and thus the conclusions drawn about the effect of global warming on ragweed are not fact but theory. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.229.4.2 (talk) 12:34, 18 August 2011 (UTC)
 * And gravity is not fact but theory, much like the theory that the earth is round. Intelligent falling is just as reasonable as a theory and should be taught along with gravitation in the public schools.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.28.244.122 (talk) 15:14, 13 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Well this aged like unpasteurized milk  Atomic putty? Rien!  13:47, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

\
 * the reference has been removed because it no longer exists. I would caution editors to be weary of adding references to global warming to plant articles as the effects in most cases are not tested, and alot of the cited references are using anecdotal information. remember that a reference needs to be reputable. and sign your posts. Δρ∈rs∈ghiη (talk) 17:19, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

"Multiple studies indicate that, as climate warms, pollen seasons will start sooner, last longer, and produce more pollen than in the past..." A 2014 Rutgers study... "found that between 2001 and 2010, pollen season in the contiguous United States started on average three days earlier than it did in the 1990s, and the annual total of daily airborne pollen increased more than 40 percent." https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-allergies /ref>    — Preceding unsigned comment added by JerryKoala (talk • contribs) 22:26, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

when did people rush elsewhere to avoid it?
Allergy sufferers often retreated to high mountain and desert areas of North America to avoid high pollen levels, but the spread of ragweed via human transport and disturbance has left few such refuges
 * At what time in history, did any significant number of people retreat to high mountains or desert areas to avoid it?  D r e a m Focus  22:56, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
 * I have removed this from the article. Post here if you disagree.   D r e a m Focus  15:23, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
 * I agree that it is too vague to belong here, but to answer the question: people with breathing problems used to go to Arizona in the 1940s. Sminthopsis84 (talk) 18:14, 30 October 2014 (UTC)

Etymology?
It would be helpful to have a section on the origin of the generic name. It's a Linnaean name, but he adopted an earlier name that was apparently already in wide use. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.51.174.100 (talk) 12:59, 26 August 2019 (UTC)