COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



473 



BEGGAR-TICKS 

 Bldens frondosa, L. 



Other English names: Bur Marigold, Stick-tight, Devil's Bootjack, 



Pitchfork Weed. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seed. 

 Time of bloom: July to September. 

 Seed-time: August to October. 



Range : Throughout United States and southern British America. 

 Habitat : Moist soil ; gardens, fields, pastures, roadsides, and waste 



places. 



All the Bidens are most annoying weeds and this one is perhaps 

 the most so because it is everywhere. Stem two to five feet high, 

 erect, smooth or nearly so, often 

 purplish in color, with spreading 

 branches. Leaves opposite, usually 

 smooth, the lower ones generally 

 five-lobed with terminal segments 

 long-pointed and often again di- 

 vided ; upper ones three-parted or 

 sometimes lance-shaped, all sharply 

 toothed; petioles slender, and 

 grooved on the upper side. Heads 

 numerous, about a half-inch long, on 

 slender peduncles ; involucre double, 

 with an outer row of five to eight 

 leafy and spreading bracts, spatu- 

 late, with edges hairy at base, much 

 exceeding the heads in length; the 

 inner row short, with scarious mar- 

 gins ; rays, when present, yellow, 

 very small and inconspicuous, sterile ; 

 disk-florets tubular, orange-yellow, 

 five-toothed, perfect, and fertile. 

 Achenes wedge-shaped, black, flat, 

 ridged down the center of each face, the apex bearing two di- 

 verging, downwardly barbed awns, which enable them to attach 

 themselves to clothing and to the coats of animals, particularly 

 sheep, and so ensure a wide distribution. (Fig. 329.) 



FIG. 329. Beggar-ticks (Bidens 

 frondosa). X i- 



