Bidens bipinnata L., Asteraceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: bipinnate beggar's tick, cobbler's pegs, Spanish needle

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Stems 25-85 cm tall, erect, tetragonous, slightly puberulous on upper part, branched. Median cauline leaves opposite, 11-19 cm long, more of less pubescent on both surfaces (petioles 3.5-5 cm long, wingless), bipinnatipartite, lower segments often 2- or 3-cleft or pinnatifid, terminal segments narrow, acuminate, few-dentate; upper leaves gradually smaller, uppermost alternate, small, pinnati-partite. Heads 6-10 mm broad; peduncles 1.8-8.5 cm long. Involucre cupuliform, bracts 5-7, lanceolate, 2.5 mm long to 5 mm long in fruit, linear-oblong, apex obtuse or acute, outer palea oblong, 3.5-4 mm long, to 6-8 mm long in fruit, obtuse, inner ones narrowly obtuse, 5 mm long to 12 mm long in fruit. Ray florets 1-3, yellow, 5-6 mm long. Disc florets fertile, corolla yellow, tubular, 4.5 mm long, 5-lobed. Achenes long linear, 10-12x1 mm, 3- or 4-angular, more or less short strigose. Pappus awns 3 or 4, 3-4 mm long"  (Digital Flora of Taiwan).

"Glabrous or minutely hairy annual 3-17 dm; leaves 4-20 cm including the 2-5 cm petiole, mostly 2-3 times pinnately dissected, the ultimate segments tending to be rounded; heads narrow, disciform, the disk only 4-6 mm wide at anthesis, the short, ochroleucous rays not surpassing the disk; outer involucral bracts 7-10, linear, ± acute, not evidently expanded upwards, shorter than the inner; achenes linear, tetragonal, narrowed above, often sparsely hairy, 10-13 mm, or some of the outer shorter; pappus of (2) 3 or 4 yellowish awns"  (Gleason & Cronquist, 1963; p. 541).

"Annual, 0.3-1.5 m tall; stems ± square; leaves 2-3 times pinnately dissected or compound with numerous segments, the segments deltoid-lanceolate; petioles 20-50 mm long; outer phyllaries 7-10, linear, 3-7 mm long; inner phyllaries 5-9 mm long; achenes linear, quadrangular, usually 10-18 mm long, 0.6-1 mm in diameter; pappus awns 2-4 mm long"  (Diggs et al., 1999; p. 326).

Habitat/ecology:  In Texas (U.S.), "in moist soils" (Diggs et al., 1999; p. 326).  "Moist to fairly dry, disturbed habitats"  (Gleason & Cronquist, 1963; p. 541).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Worldwide weed, probable origin neotropics & subtropics" (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands		Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (p. 613) On dry open slopes, altitude about 1,300 m.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 45)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 276) In wasteland.
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 189)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 45)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	probably introduced invasive	Ching-I Peng, ed. (2011) "Usually in the south, along roadside and in waste grounds".
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Bidens bipinnata is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Bidens bipinnata as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Bidens bipinnata may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Ching-I Peng, ed. 2011. Digital flora of Taiwan (online resource).

Diggs, George M./Lipscomb, Barney L./O'Kennon, Robert J. 1999. Illustrated flora of north central Texas.

Gleason, Henry A./Crohnquist, Arthur. 1963. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. New York Botanical Garden. 910 pp. ISBN 0-89327-365-1.

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

Merrill, Elmer D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 3 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 628 pp.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Smith, Nicholas M. 2002. Weeds of the wet/dry tropics of Australia - a field guide. Environment Centre NT, Inc. 112 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.