Nodding beggarticks
Scientific Name: Bidens cernua L.
Family: Asteraceae
MORPHOLOGY
Growth habit and size: Annual plant, 30 cm to one meter tall.
Stems: Erect, tubular, glabrous or nearly so, often branched at the base.
Leaves: Opposite subsessile leaves with blades ranging from linear to linear-lanceolate, entire or with sharp, spaced teeth, 3-10 cm long.
Flowers: Solitary flower heads or in groups of 2-3, inclined, generally discoidal, about 2 cm in diameter. Leafy, radiating outer bracts. Both tubular and ligulate yellow flowers, the ligulate ones are oval. Blooms from June to September.
Fruits and seeds: Brown or black achenes, with hooks or spines at the end, which facilitate adherence to the fur of animals or human clothing for seed dispersal.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
It grows in central-northern Italy except in Val d’Aosta and Le Marche regions, from 0 to 600 m along the edges of watercourses, in marshes, ditches, and other humid environments.
Photo: Used under a free license by Saxifraga, Piet Zomerdijk, Peter Meininger, Rutger Barendse.



















