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• Asteraceae Group 3
• Bidens
• Bidens trichosperma

Bidens trichosperma — crowned beggar-ticks

Facts

Crowned beggar-ticks is a native species of marshes and wetland margins. It is absent from northern New England. The Seminole used the whole plant internally and externally as an analgesic, febrifuge and an eye medicine.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields, shores of rivers or lakes, wetland margins (edges of wetlands)

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bases of bract appendages

  NA

  Bract cycle number

  there are two main cycles of bracts

  Bract margins

  there are fine hairs along the bract margins

  Bract outer side hair type

  the bracts are not hairy on their outer surface

  Bract outer side hairs

  the bracts are not hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract separation

  • at least some flower heads have bracts connected to one another at or near their bases
  • the bracts appear completely unconnected to one another on all flower heads

  Bract shape

  • the main bracts are linear (long and very narrow)
  • the main bracts are oblong (roughly rectangular but rounded at the ends)
  • the main bracts are of a different shape than the given options

  Bract spines

  the bracts have no spines

  Bract texture

  • the bracts appear thin, flexible and nearly translucent
  • the bracts have a similar texture to a leaf

  Bracts

  there are at least two distinct forms of bracts in different cycles

  Disk flower color

  yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

  Disk flower number

  • 21-50
  • more than 50

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has both pollen- and seed-producing parts

  Disk flower shape

  the disk flower is tube-shaped (cylindrical), or gradually widening like a funnel

  Flower head number

  each flowering stem has only one to three flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has papery scales on it

  Flower head position

  each of the flower heads is separate on its own peduncle (stalk), not clustered in groups

  Flower head profile

  • the disk is flat or nearly flat across the top
  • the disk is rounded across the top

  Flower head shape

  the flower head is hemispherical (like the bottom half of a sphere)

  Flower type in flower heads

  • the flower head has disk flowers only, and lacks the strap-shaped flowers
  • the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Height of flower head base

  4–8 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  • NA
  • the inflorescence is flat-topped in profile

  Number of bracts at flower head base

  12–21

  Ovary beak

  there is no beak on the ovary

  Ovary cross-section

  • the ovary is compressed (flattened)
  • the ovary is roughly square or with four corners

  Ovary hair type

  • the ovary has hairs on it, but the hairs have no glands
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary hairs

  • the ovary has hairs on it
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary lines or ribs

  there is one line or rib visible on the ovary

  Ovary profile

  • in profile, the ovary is lance-shaped, but widest above the middle
  • in profile, the ovary is oblong (roughly rectangular but rounded at the ends)

  Ovary surface

  the ovary surface is textured with tiny points, bumps or wrinkles

  Peduncle hair type

  NA

  Peduncle hairs

  the peduncles have no hairs

  Peduncle length

  20–150 mm

  Ray flower color

  yellow

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  there are neither carpels nor stamens in the ray flowers

  Ray flowers

  6-10

  Ray length

  10–30 mm

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on the plant contain both carpels and stamens

  Smaller bracts at base of bracts

  there is no smaller, outer cycle of bracts

  Style branch number

  the style has two branches

  Style branches

  the style branch is narrow at the tip, or the style branches are narrow at the tips

  Width of flower head base

  6–12 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Dispersal unit

  the seeds fall off or are dispersed separately from one another

  Number of pappus parts

  • 0
  • 4

  Ovary beak length

  0 mm

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  3–9 mm

  Ovary width in developed fruit

  0.9–2.5 mm

  Seed hair tuft details

  the pappus hairs are hooked or barbed

  Seed hair tuft length

  0.4–4 mm

  Seed hair tuft tips

  the pappus hairs are slender

  Seed hairs uniform

  all the pappus hairs are approximately the same length

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of stiff, tapering bristles

  Top of disk flower ovary

  the top of the ovary in fruit is flattened

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  there is no plume, or the plume is made up of scales, awns, a crown, or a rim

• Glands or sap

  Bract resin

  the bracts have no resin or resin glands

  Leaf blade glands

  the leaf blades have no glandular (translucent) dots or scales

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  • the plant is annual, it lacks evidence of previous years' growth
  • the plant is biennial, it appears as either first year (non-reproductive) plants or second year plants with flowers or fruit

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

• Leaves

  Final leaf segment length (compound lvs only)

  5–80 mm

  Final leaf segment width (compound lvs only)

  0.5–12 mm

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  • the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the underside of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  the leaf has a distinct petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow

  Leaf blade edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade flatness

  the leaf is flat (planar) at the edges

  Leaf blade hairs

  the leaf blade has simple hairs with no glands, and not tangled or wooly

  Leaf blade length

  40–150 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is lanceolate (lance-shaped; widest below the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is triangular, with the stalk or attachment point on one of the sides

  Leaf blade tip

  • the tip of the leaf blade is acuminate (tapers to a long, thin point)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)

  Leaf blade width

  10–130 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the leaves are nearly similar in size, prominence of teeth, and length of stalks throughout the stem

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk length

  5–20 mm

  Leaf tip extension

  NA

  Leaf type

  leaves are compound (made up of two or more discrete leaflets)

  Specific leaf type

  • the leaf has a row of two or more lobes on each side of the central axis
  • the leaf has a row of two or more lobes on each side of the central axis, and each lobe itself has rows of lobes on each side of the lobe's central axis
  • the leaf has lobes that themselves have lobes, and these secondary lobes also have lobes; there may be more than three levels of lobes
  • the leaf is compound, there are two or more discrete leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  wetlands

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts
  • Rhode Island

  Specific habitat

  • edges of wetlands
  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields
  • shores of rivers or lakes

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem cross-section

  the flowering stem is circular, or with lots of small angles

  Leaves on stem

  there is at least one full leaf above the base of the flowering stem

  Stem internode hair direction

  NA

  Stem internode hair length

  0 mm

  Stem internode hair type

  the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem internode hairs

  the stem has no hairs between the nodes

Wetland status

Occurs only in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: OBL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae