Ah-CHOO!

Common ragweed, or ambrosia, as it is known here (ambrosia artemisiifolia ) is a member of the sunflower family. Curious why such a bothersome plant would be named for the food of the gods, I found out that the generic name is actually derived from the Greek'ambrotos' (άμβροτος), "immortal". In ragweed's case, this refers to its tenaciousness, which makes it hard to rid an area of these invasive weeds. Sure enough, this tall ambrosia stalk is growing in an urban area in New Belgrade. There used to be fields of it on the other side of the street you see here, but now most of that land has been developed into office space, much to the relief of local allergy sufferers. You can probably guess I'm not allergic to it, since I managed to get this close for the photo!