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Home / Browse / Ambrosia / Texan Great Ragweed (var. texana)
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Pictured: Ambrosia trifida — the species. This variety isn’t separately illustrated.
Asteraceae family

Texan Great Ragweed (var. texana) Ambrosia trifida var. texana variety

Native

Texan Great Ragweed (var. texana) is an annual shrub native to the lower 48 states.

More about this plant

Ambrosia trifida, the giant ragweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is widespread in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 7 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Annual
In the garden
Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~48 caterpillar species

Ambrosia supports ~48 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a strong genus.

Recorded feeding on Ambrosia in North America, including:

Adaina ambrosiae · Ragweed Plume Moth Animomyia morta · geometer (inchworm) moth Areniscythris brachypteris Asymmetrura impositella Asymmetrura matutella Bucculatrix agnella · ribbed cocoon-maker moth
+ 8 more species →
Bucculatrix ambrosiaefoliella · ribbed cocoon-maker moth Bucculatrix franseriae · ribbed cocoon-maker moth Bucculatrix pomifoliella · Apple Skeletonizer Bucculatrix transversata · ribbed cocoon-maker moth Caenurgina erechtea · Forage Looper Carolella beevorana · leafroller moth Charidryas gorgone · brush-footed butterfly Chionodes mediofuscella · Black-Smudged Chionodes
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (12) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[10] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[11] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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