This Week Tim Trower and Chris Boerboom Sr.
Leaves are mostly opposite with simple blades and serrate margins.
The seed is bur-like in appearance with a single short beak in the center surrounded by blunt spines. Giant ragweed has erect, branching, and coarse stems that may grow up to 13 feet in height. The most prominent feature in identifying common ragweed seedlings is the 3-5 lobed leaves. Infestations generally start in small areas along fence lines, ditch banks, and other waste areas and will move into cultivated fields over time. This slow but steady increase in the seedbank may help explain how small infestations soon become large problems if giant ragweed is not initially controlled.