Bidens alba

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Bidens alba
Starr 080601-5248 Bidens alba var. radiata.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Bidens
Species:
B. alba
Binomial name
Bidens alba
(L.) DC.
Synonyms

Coreopsis albaL.

Bidens alba, which belongs to the family Asteraceae, is most commonly known as shepherd's needles, beggarticks, Spanish needles, or butterfly needles. [1] Bidens means two- toothed, describing the two projections found at the top of the seeds, and alba refers to the white ray florets. [2] This plant is found in tropical and subtropical regions of North America, Asia, South America, and Africa, [3] situated in gardens, road sides, farm fields and disturbed sites. [4] B. alba is an annual or short-lived perennial, which is considered a weed in the United States. [2] However, B. alba leaves are edible and can be used as medicinal remedies. [1]

Contents

Description

Bidens alba is a vascular plant. It has a similar root and stem system to others in the dicot family Asteraceae. [5] After germinating, the roots progress into a tap root that grows vertically in the ground. [1] The primary tissue of the apical meristems increases the length of the plant and the secondary roots of the lateral meristems give rise to the width. B. alba grows to a height of approximately five feet. [2]

The stem of B. alba plant emerges from the taproot, yet the bent stem at the base also has the ability to grow into roots at the lower nodes. Stems are mostly hairless and green to purplish in color. [4] The vascular bundle provides nutrients throughout the plant, with the xylem transporting water from the roots and the phloem obtaining food from the leaves. [2]

Bidens alba leaves, which are simple on the opposite side and compound on the underneath, are 2–10 centimetres (1–4 in) long and 1.0–3.5 cm (381+38 in) wide. [3] The underside leaf is hairy, and has toothed edges. [4] The leaves may be lobed, depending on the species. Some have teeth and some do not; each node produces two leaves along the stem. [3]

Each flowering head of B. alba, which is small, appears in radial symmetry. [1] The flowers on this plant are depicted as daisy-like due to the larger white petals and the very small yellow flowers which are located at the end of the branches. [5] Colors of the flower-heads of Bidens alba vary depending on the subspecies; some B. alba have yellow, tubular central blossoms and others may have flower-heads with white or cream petals (1.5 cm or 58 in long); eventually they form black linear seeds, yielding approximately 1200 seeds per plant. [2]

Cultivation

Bidens alba is a fast-growing, fast-spreading weed due to its enormous number of seeds and the ability to re-grow from stems. [3] In sub-tropical to tropical conditions, B. alba can grow almost everywhere in full sun with little or no moisture. The most growth occurs in organic matter with loose soil; [1] however, they can also propagate well on sand and lime-rocks in non-irrigated habitats. The seeds are dispersed mainly by animals or humans, although some are also carried by wind and water. [4]

Uses

Bidens alba provide a nectar source for butterflies and honey-bees.

Bidens is a nutrient dense wild plant, boasting a similar nutrient profile to kale - high in fiber and proteins, carotenes, folate, and magnesium. People in South Africa, Zulus, and Indians consume the fresh or dried leaves by boiling them. [3] Young leaves of B. alba may also be eaten as a salad. Bidens alba contains saponins, so older leaves may be unpleasant to the taste and may upset the stomach. [4]

The dried leaves of the B. alba also make a good tobacco substitute. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bidens</i> Genus of plants

Bidens is a genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae. The genus include roughly 230 species which are distributed worldwide. Despite their global distribution, the systematics and taxonomy of the genus has been described as complicated and unorganized. The common names beggarticks, black jack, burr marigolds, cobbler's pegs, Spanish needles, stickseeds, tickseeds and tickseed sunflowers refer to the fruits of the plants, most of which are bristly and barbed. The generic name refers to the same character; Bidens comes from the Latin bis ("two") and dens ("tooth").

<i>Leucanthemum vulgare</i> Species of flowering plant

Leucanthemum vulgare, commonly known as the ox-eye daisy, oxeye daisy, dog daisy, marguerite and other common names, is a widespread flowering plant native to Europe and the temperate regions of Asia, and an introduced plant to North America, Australia and New Zealand.

<i>Hypochaeris radicata</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae

Hypochaeris radicata – also known as catsear, flatweed, cat's-ear, hairy cat's ear, or false dandelion – is a perennial, low-lying edible herb often found in lawns. The plant is native to Europe, but has also been introduced to the Americas, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, where it can be an invasive weed. It is listed as a noxious weed in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington.

<i>Bidens frondosa</i> North American species of flowering plant

Bidens frondosa is a North American species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. It is widespread across much of Canada, the United States, and Mexico It is known in many other parts of the world as an introduced species, including Europe, Asia, Morocco, and New Zealand. Its many common names include devil's beggarticks, devil's-pitchfork, devil's bootjack, sticktights, bur marigold, pitchfork weed, tickseed sunflower, leafy beggarticks, and common beggar-ticks.

<i>Cirsium arvense</i> Species of flowering plant

Cirsium arvense is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle. It is also commonly known as Canada thistle and field thistle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secondary growth</span> Type of growth in plants

In botany, secondary growth is the growth that results from cell division in the cambia or lateral meristems and that causes the stems and roots to thicken, while primary growth is growth that occurs as a result of cell division at the tips of stems and roots, causing them to elongate, and gives rise to primary tissue. Secondary growth occurs in most seed plants, but monocots usually lack secondary growth. If they do have secondary growth, it differs from the typical pattern of other seed plants.

<i>Viola sororia</i> Species of flowering plant in family Violaceae

Viola sororia, known commonly as the common blue violet, is a short-stemmed herbaceous perennial plant native to eastern North America. It is known by a number of common names, including common meadow violet, purple violet, woolly blue violet, hooded violet, and wood violet.

<i>Ipomoea cairica</i> Species of vine

Ipomoea cairica is a vining, herbaceous, perennial plant with palmate leaves and large, showy white to lavender flowers. A species of morning glory, it has many common names, including mile-a-minute vine, Messina creeper, Cairo morning glory, coast morning glory and railroad creeper. The species name cairica translates to "from Cairo", the city where this species was first collected.

<i>Chromolaena odorata</i> Species of flowering plant

Chromolaena odorata is a tropical and subtropical species of flowering shrub in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Americas, from Florida and Texas in the United States south through Mexico and the Caribbean to South America. It has been introduced to tropical Asia, West Africa, and parts of Australia.

<i>Emilia sonchifolia</i> Species of plant

Emilia sonchifolia, also known as lilac tasselflower or cupid's shaving brush, is a tropical flowering species of tasselflower in the sunflower family. It is widespread in tropical regions around the world, apparently native to Asia and naturalized in Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands.

<i>Bidens pilosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Bidens pilosa is an annual species of herbaceous flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. Its many common names include hitch hikers, black-jack, beggarticks, farmer's friends and Spanish needle, but most commonly referred to as cobblers pegs. It is native to the Americas but is widely distributed as an introduced species in other regions including Eurasia, Africa, Australia, South America and the Pacific Islands, and is classified as an invasive species in some regions of the world.

This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnifying lens. This page provides help in understanding the numerous other pages describing plants by their various taxa. The accompanying page—Plant morphology—provides an overview of the science of the external form of plants. There is also an alphabetical list: Glossary of botanical terms. In contrast, this page deals with botanical terms in a systematic manner, with some illustrations, and organized by plant anatomy and function in plant physiology.

Important structures in plant development are buds, shoots, roots, leaves, and flowers; plants produce these tissues and structures throughout their life from meristems located at the tips of organs, or between mature tissues. Thus, a living plant always has embryonic tissues. By contrast, an animal embryo will very early produce all of the body parts that it will ever have in its life. When the animal is born, it has all its body parts and from that point will only grow larger and more mature. However, both plants and animals pass through a phylotypic stage that evolved independently and that causes a developmental constraint limiting morphological diversification.

<i>Acalypha rhomboidea</i> Species of flowering plant

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This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary of leaf morphology. For other related terms, see Glossary of phytopathology, Glossary of lichen terms, and List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woody plant</span> Plant that produces wood and has a hard stem

A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposed to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until spring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant stem</span> Structural axis of a vascular plant

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, engages in photosynthesis, stores nutrients, and produces new living tissue. The stem can also be called the culm, halm, haulm, stalk, or thyrsus.

<i>Ageratina adenophora</i> Weedy species of flowering plant

Ageratina adenophora, commonly known as Crofton weed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Mexico and Central America. Originally grown as an ornamental plant, it has become invasive into farmland and bushland worldwide. It is toxic to horses, which develop a respiratory disease known as Numinbah horse sickness after eating it.

Lessingia arachnoidea is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Crystal Springs lessingia. It is endemic to the U.S. state of California, where it is known from a few occurrences in the vicinity of Crystal Springs Reservoir on the San Francisco Peninsula and southward to serpentine soil in Woodside. It may also exist in Sonoma County to the north. The plant grows in chaparral, scrub, grasslands and other local plant communities, on serpentine soils.

<i>Vigna luteola</i> Species of legume

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bidens alba. Ed. Linda C. Duever. FLORIDATA: 21 Nov. 2003. 27 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Futch, Stephen H., and David W. Hall2. "Identification of Broadleaf Weeds in Citrus1". Gainesville: Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, University of Florida, 2002. N. 27 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bidens alba." University of Texas At Austin. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, n.d. Native Plant. 28 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Deane, Green. "Spanish Needles, Pitchfork Weed". Eat the Weeds and other things too, 19 Oct.2011.
  5. 1 2 David W. Hall, Vernon V. Vandiver, and Jason A. Ferrell2. "Common Beggar's-tick (Hairy Beggar's-tick), Bidens alba (L.)" DC.1. University of Florida IFAS Extension, SP37 (1991):N. Web. 25 May 2013.