Images on the right from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/treegrow/25949451575
Family: Asteraceae
Common Names:
- English: canyon ragweed
- Spanish: Chicura Chicura
- O'odham: Taḍṣagĭ
Scientific Name: Ambrosia ambrosioides
Rain Garden Zone: A. ambrosioides thrives in the bottom or terrace Rain Garden Zone.
Reproduced with permission from "Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond" by Brad Lancaster, HarvestingRainwater.com
Flowering Season: Spring
Characteristics: Lush, fragrant, and evergreen leaved shrub with a woody base and stems. Grows to 3' tall. Found in sandy washes and arroyos. Grows below 4,500' elevation. Yellow-green sun-flower like blooms appear in late winter - early spring.
Landscape Cultivation: Leaves can be damaged by temperatures below 30oF. Grows in full sun or partial shade. Plant can freeze to the ground by temperatures in the low 20s, but usually grows back.
Ecology: seeds attract numerous birds. Guild associates – cat claw acacia.
Ethnobotany:
Other:
Among the Seri a blue pigment was made from a mixture of ragweed root bark, Guaiacum coulteri resin, and a mixed clay (Felger and Moser, 1985).; among the Seri the leaves were dried and smoked (Felger and Moser, 1985). Dye plant gold to grey-green (Bliss, 1980). For medicinal uses of this plant see: (Kay, 1996), (Felger and Moser, 1985), (Felger, et al 1992).
To learn more about this species, see the Campus Arboretum species description page.