Spanish Needles

(Bidens bipinnata)

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Spanish Needles (Bidens bipinnata)

Identification: Flowers without ray florets, developing into an upright cluster of elongate seeds (achenes) each with 4 barbs. Leaves heavily divided, almost fernlike. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Kansas and Missouri in the west, eastward to New York and Massachusetts, and southward to Florida. Found westward to Arizona and New Mexico and the southern Plains States.

Habitat: Spanish Needles is a plant of roadsides, fields, and other waste places.

Flowering period: August to October.

Spanish Needles (Bidens bipinnata)

Similar Species:

The lack of ray florets and the fernlike leaves are distinctive.

Similar Species

No Similar Species