Ambrosia is a North American plant called "food of the gods" in ancient Hellas. Two centuries ago, this plant was characterized with the same respect in his writings by the famous scientist Karl Linnaeus. But now it has become a scourge for agricultural workers, as well as people with allergies.
Ambrosia is divided into three types: perennial, wormwood and tripartite. Ambrosia is found in many countries around the world. On the territory of Russia, the plant is represented by two types: tripartite and wormwood. All types of ragweed are recognized as weeds and are called quarantine.
Why is this plant dangerous? First of all, by the fact that it, powerfully developing both in the aboveground and underground parts, strongly suppresses cultivated plants. In addition, ragweed is capable of dramatically drying out the soil, consuming a lot of water. It also literally draws out all minerals from the fertile layer, leaving nothing to other plants. That is why ragweed is so dangerous in fields with cereals, row crops and legumes. Rapidly outgrowing rye, wheat, barley and other crops, it "clogs" them, reducing, or even completely nullifying the harvest. Ambrosia is dangerous even for such a powerful plant as sunflower.
The "food of the gods" is not suitable as food for animals either. Its leaves contain bitter essential oils, and the quality of hay and forage contaminated with ragweed is noticeably reduced.
Ambrosia is also a hazard to human health. The pollen of this plant causes ragweed hay fever, which is why some people are even forced to move to areas where ragweed is less common. Harmful pollen is released by the plant in huge quantities, the grass itself is capable of reaching two to three meters in height, the flowering period stretches for several months - from May to September. Children often suffer from plant pollen allergy, there have even been cases of death.
In various countries, methods of combating ragweed are being developed at the government level. Biological scientists are engaged in this problem, special teams of people are combing the area in order to detect and destroy the thickets of this plant. In Switzerland, for example, anyone who suddenly sees at least one ragweed bush must immediately report it to the local environmental service. And in Berlin, locals manually destroy every weed bush, having already got rid of several million plants. Italy, France and Hungary, alas, have already lost in the fight against ragweed.
On the territory of Russia, a number of chemicals are used to control this weed. Effective agrotechnical methods are also used: crops alternate in a special way in crop rotation, soil cultivation, crop care, and the creation of "fallow" fields are carried out.
Ambrosia seeds withstand the most unfavorable conditions and can spread to remote areas by such methods as import with grain, with hay or straw, with seed processing waste, with mixed feed, with seedlings, etc.
Considering all the above characteristics, in modern realities, alas, it is difficult to call ambrosia "food of the gods", the definition of "devil's dust" is more suitable for it.
