Bidens frondosa (Devil’s beggartick)

Bidens frondosa L.

Bidens frondosa L. var. anomala Porter ex Fernald

Bidens frondosa L. var. caudata Sherff

Bidens frondosa L. var. pallida Wiegand

Bidens frondosa L. var. stenodonta Fernald & H. St. John

Devil’s beggartick, devil’s-pitchfork, devil’s bootjack, sticktights, bur marigold, pitchfork weed, tickseed sunflower, leafy beggarticks, common beggar-ticks

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Bidens	From Latin bis, “twice,” and dens, “tooth,” for the pair of bristles on the achenes
Species	frondosa	“Leafy”

About plant names...

These widespread North American native plants have all kinds of colorful common names that relate to the small fork-shaped seeds, which readily hitch rides on passers-by.

Plants: 12-36" (30-91 cm) high, rarely up to 6' (1.8 m). Stems are square in cross-section, nearly hairless, and light green, reddish green, or purple.

Leaves: Lower leaves are odd pinnate clusters on long petioles, in opposite pairs; upper leaves may be alternate. Leaves are up to 3" (7.6 cm) × 1" (2.5 cm), coarsely toothed, deltate or lanceolate.

Flowers: Each composite flower is composed of 20-60 orange-yellow disc florets about ⅜-½" (9.5-12 mm) around, and rarely a few yellow rays, each ¹/₁₆-⅛" (2-3.5 mm) long. They are encompassed in 6-10 phyllaries, like a rosette of small leaves. The flowers look sort of scraggly and unimpressive to me. Flowers occur in groups of one or up to 12, appearing from late summer to early fall.

Fruits: The seeds or achenes are shaped like a narrow triangle, with two barbed fork tips that attach to fur or clothes. The seeds are also distributed by the wind.

Edibility: Cooked young leaves and stems are edible.

Medical: Infusions made from this species are used to treat several urinary tract problems, as well as to reduce recurrences of gout by increasing excretion of uric acid.

These are similar:

9/27/2018 · Pearl Hill State Park, Townsend, Massachusetts
≈ 8 × 5" (20 × 13 cm)

8/4/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts
≈ 21 × 14" (52 × 36 cm)

7/24/2010 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Massachusetts
≈ 14 × 17" (34 × 42 cm)

	*Bidens cernua*	You are here Bidens frondosa	*Bidens laevis*
Common Name	nodding beggartick	devil’s beggartick	bur-marigolds
Plant	Up to 13' (4 m) high, usually less than 3' (91 cm)	12-36" (30-91 cm) high, rarely up to 6' (1.8 m). Stems are square in cross-section, nearly hairless, and light green, reddish green, or purple	24-36" (60-91 cm) high, rarely up to 6' (1.8 m). Plants and flowers tend to look disheveled.
Flowers	Composite flowers are 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) across, have up to 8 petals, though rarely the ray flowers are missing and only the tubular disk flowers are present. The flowers are *sideways-facing*, rather than upward-facing	Each composite flower is composed of 20-60 orange-yellow disc florets about ⅜-½" (9.5-12 mm) around, *and rarely a few yellow rays*, each ¹/₁₆-⅛" (2-3.5 mm) long. They are encompassed in 6-10 phyllaries, like a rosette of small leaves. Flowers occur in groups of 1-12, appearing from late summer to early fall.	Yellow flowers are 1½-2½" (3.8-6.3 cm) around, with 8 petals. Each is a composite flower. They bloom from July to October.
Leaves	Opposite, and sessile or *clasping—leaf bases wrap around the stem.* Leaves are 1½-8" (4-20 cm) long × up to 1" (2.5 cm) wide, and simple (unlobed)	Lower leaves are odd pinnate clusters on long petioles, in opposite pairs; upper leaves may be alternate. Leaves are up to 3" (7.6 cm) × 1" (2.5 cm), coarsely toothed, deltate or lanceolate.	1½-8" (3.8-20 cm) long, narrow, with coarse (dentate or serrate) teeth. They vary in shape from obovate or elliptic to lanceolate or linear
Fruit	Fruits are brown, hard, and triangular in shape, with four barbed spears of roughly equal length called awns	The seeds or achenes are shaped like a narrow triangle, with two barbed fork tips that attach to fur or clothes. The seeds are also distributed by the wind.	Seeds have barbed tips, which hitchhike on passers-by to find new locations.
Range/ Zones
Habitats	Near shorelines and the edges of wetlands, in sandy or mucky soil	Moist woods, meadows, thickets, fields, roadsides, railroads, borders of streams, ponds, sloughs, swamps, ditches	Saturated or flooded soils
Type	Wild	Wild	Wild
Occurrence		Common

Online References:

Bidens frondosa at Illinois Wildflowers

Bidens frondosa on CalPhotos

Bidens frondosa at Minnesota Wildflowers

Bidens frondosa on Wikipedia

Bidens frondosa on

Bidens frondosa on the University of Massachusetts Landscape, Nursery & Urban Forestry Program

Bidens frondosa on Plants for a Future, a resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants

Bidens frondosa on eFloras

9/11/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts
≈ 3½ × 4" (8.8 × 10 cm)

9/15/2015 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Porcupine Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire
≈ 4½ × 3½" (11 × 9.1 cm)

9/27/2018 · Pearl Hill State Park, Townsend, Massachusetts
≈ 4 × 3½" (10 × 8.8 cm)

9/11/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts
≈ 3 × 3" (7.4 × 7.9 cm)

Bidens frondosa description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 18 Sep 2020.

9/25/2017 · Oak Hill, Littleton, Massachusetts
≈ 4½ × 3½" (12 × 9.2 cm)

9/25/2017 · Oak Hill, Littleton, Massachusetts
≈ 6 × 4" (15 × 10 cm)

7/24/2010 · Acton Arboretum, Acton, Massachusetts
≈ 17 × 12" (43 × 29 cm)

9/11/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts
≈ 14 × 9" (35 × 23 cm)

9/15/2015 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Porcupine Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire
≈ 5 × 4" (12 × 10 cm)

Range:

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