Common Name:

beggarticks

Synonym(s):

Genus species:

Bidens alba

Family:

Asteraceae

Form:

flower

Size:

1-3 ft ft tall by 1-3 ft ft wide

Life Span:

annual

Flower Color:

white ray flowers, yellow disk flowers

Fruit Color:

black

Phenology:

blooms all year

Noted For:

Recommended Uses:

Casual settings, especially toward the rear of wildflower gardens

Considerations:

Once you have this plant, you will always have this plant. It can be quite weedy. The seeds have barbs which stick to clothing and pet fur.

Availability:

Propagation:

Seed. But if you don't have it now, you will, so no need to plant. Pull seedlings leaving only a few plants to bring in the insects.

Light:

Moisture Tolerance:

Always Flooded------------------------------------------------Extremely Dry

Usually moist, occasional inundation ---to--- Very long very dry periods

Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water

Salt Spray/Salty Soil Tolerance:

Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray

Soil or Other Substrate:

Sand, Loam

Soil pH:

adaptable

Suitable to Grow In:

8A, 8B, 9A, 9B, 10A, 10B, 11

Wildlife:

Native Habitats:

ruderal

Natural Range in Florida:

Visit the USF Libraries Atlas of Florida Plants

Ethnobotany:

Young leaves are edible and the sap will stop small wounds from bleeding.

General Comments:

The nativity of this species is doubtful (FNA, vol. 21), and, if native to Florida, it possibly is only native to South Florida. Quite likely it is an early introduction. The earliest known records in Florida are from the 1830s in Tampa Bay and Key West (Torrey & Gray 1842, as B. leucantha), and subsequently documented around Indian River in 1874 (Palmer, US), Cedar Keys in 1876 (Garber, US), Miami in 1877 (Garber, US), Manatee in 1889 (Simpson, US), and Mobile, Alabama in 1891 (Mohr, US).