Bidens frondosa L.
common beggarticks (devil's beggartick)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
common beggarticks (devil's beggartick)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a fibrous root; stems erect, branched, sparsely spreading-hairy to glabrous, 0.2-1.2 m tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves pinnately compound with 3-5 lanceolate, stalked, opposite, saw-toothed leaflets up to 2-10 cm long and 0.5-3 cm wide, sometimes sparsely short-hairy below.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, sometimes discoid, bell-shaped to hemishperic, few to many in an open inflorescence; involucres 8-12 mm wide; involucral bracts in 2 dissimilar series, the outer ones 5-8, green, leafy, unequal, erect to ascending, linear-lanceolate, longer than the disk, 0.5-2 (rarely 6) cm long, the inner ones erect, oblong, mostly 5-9 mm long; ray flowers 1-5 or sometimes lacking, yellow, 8-12 mm long, shorter than the involucral bracts; disk flowers orange, about 2 mm long.
Fruits:
Achenes 5-10 mm long, dark brown or blackish, narrowly wedge-shaped, compressed, strongly nerved on each face; pappus of 2 retrorsely or antrorsely barbed awns, 3-4.5 mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Late Summer
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Summer to Fall
Source: The USDA
Habitat and Range
Mesic to wet ditches, streambanks, meadows and disturbed areas in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; infrequent throughout BC; introduced from E North America.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Bidens frondosa var. anomala Porter ex Fernald
Bidens frondosa var. caudata Sherff
Bidens frondosa var. pallida Wiegand
Bidens frondosa var. stenodonta Fernald & H. St. John
Taxonomic Keys
Key to pinnate-leaved Bidens species in BC:
1. Leaves pinnate; stalks long, without winged margins 2. Outer involucral bracts 5-8; disk flowers orange; achenes usually blackish......................Bidens frondosa 2. Outer involucral bracts 10-16; disk flowers pale yellow; achenes yellowish or brownish..........................Bidens vulgata Source: Modified from the Illustrated Flora of British Columbia |