Carbonized horseweed was prepared for the first time using KOH as activating agent and employed as an electrode material. Varying the KOH/C weight ratio had a dramatic effect on the electrochemical capacitance of this electrode material. The obtained results showed that the sample prepared using a KOH/C weight ratio of 5/1 exhibited the highest specific surface area of 1469 m(2) g(-1), with average pore diameter of 3.18 nm. Further, this sample also exhibited the highest specific capacitance (184.2 F g(-1)) at a current density of 0.4 A g(-1) in 6 M KOH electrolyte. In addition, the sample retained 97.6 % of its initial specific capacitance even after 1000 cycles, owing to the formation of a microporous/mesoporous structure by the activation process, the structure which provided suitable sites for charge transport and electrolyte diffusion. Thus, activated microporous carbon materials derived from horseweed could be effective as electrode materials in supercapacitors.