Plant · GBIF taxon 5389402
Spanish Needles
Bidens bipinnataAlso known as Beggarticks, Stick-tights
Spanish needles is a slender summer annual that displays finely dissected, fern-like foliage topped by subtle pale yellow flower heads in late summer. As the disc florets mature, they transform into elongated, four-angled dark seeds tipped with stiff, backward-barbed awns. These specialized burrs latch effortlessly onto mammal fur and human clothing, an ingenious dispersal adaptation that has propelled this plant across open landscapes worldwide.
AnnualWildflowerSun-Loving
1 / 7—observations
—countries
—peak records
Least ConcernConservation statusIUCN Red List categoriesLCNTVUENCREWEXLeast ConcernRed List categories, explained →
Diet & prey
- Autotrophic (photosynthetic)
Predators
- White-tailed Deer
- Eastern Cottontail
- Grasshoppers
ThreatsHerbicide application, routine roadside mowing, and canopy closure
HabitatsOpen woods, pasture margins, roadsides, and disturbed ground
Life span1 year (annual)
Classification
- OrderAsterales
- FamilyAsteraceae
- GenusBidens
- SpeciesBidens bipinnata
Range data is not available yet.
Interaction riskLow
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Very high
- Why interaction risk is low
- Safe to observe at a normal distance, though the barbed seeds readily stick to socks and fur.
Responsible observation
- Clothing Care: Wear smooth gaiters or rubber boots in autumn to keep barbed seeds from embedding in socks.
- Field Identification: Examine the leaves closely for multi-lobed, bipinnate branching distinct from other beggar-ticks.
Pollinator Andreas Trepte / CC BY-SA 2.5 · cc-by-sa
Close Relative (c) Andrew Conboy, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by
Close Relative Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India / CC BY-SA 4.0 · cc-by-sa
Close Relative no rights reserved, uploaded by Becky Dill · cc0
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