Bidens cernua (Nodding beggartick)

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Bidens cernua L.

Nodding beggartick, bur marigold, nodding bur marigold, sticktight

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	cernua	“Nodding” or “hanging,” referring to the flowers

About plant names...

Nodding beggar-ticks, so-called because their relatively large flowers tend to face sideways or nod downwards, are found near shorelines and the edges of wetlands, in sandy or mucky soil.

Plants: Plants can reach 13′ (4 m), but are typically a few feet in height.

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).

Flowers: Composite flowers are 1-2″ (2.5-5 cm) across, and 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.

Fruits: Fruits are brown, hard, and triangular in shape, with four barbed spears of roughly equal length called awns, designed to hook onto anything that passes by.

These are similar:

9/24/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 14 cm)

9/11/2021 · Otter Brook Preserve, Harpswell, Maine · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (17 × 11 cm)

9/11/2021 · Otter Brook Preserve, Harpswell, Maine · ≈ 8 × 5″ (20 × 13 cm)

	You are here Bidens cernua	*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)	1-3′ (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	2-3′ (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