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Ragweed Flowers

Ragweed Flower Spike.

Closeup of male flowers.

A single flower.
Ragweed has separate male and female flowers. The male flowers are aggregated in a spike as shown above.Female flowers are far fewer and are found in the axils of bracts, farther down the stem.

Close-up of several male "flowers". As in all the members of this family (Asteraceae or Compositae) what appears to be a flower is actually a "head" of several to many flowers, each very much reduced. Each head has a set of green bracts forming the hoodlike structure shown above.

A single flower. The yellowish structures that can be seen within are unopened anthers which contain the pollen.