Bidens alba

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Distribution Map: Based on vouchered plant specimens only. View county names by placing the mouse cursor over a particular county.

Species Distribution Map
Family:ASTERACEAE
Species:Bidens alba (L.) DC.
Common Name:Beggarticks; Romerillo
Habitat:**
Associated Ecological Communities:**
Growth Habit:Herb
Duration:Annual
Category:Vascular
USDA Symbol:**
Plant Notes:Shepherd's Needle is a herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It can be found primarily in the southern half of the state. Shepherd's Needle grows on dunes, in disturbed sandy woodlands, in vacant lots, and on roadsides. It is an annual or short-lived perennial with a tap root. The lower branches sometimes root at the nodes when in contact with the soil. The stems are square, green in color, erect or decumbent at the base, and glabrous or pubescent towards the apex. Leaves are opposite, petiolate, and ternately to pinnately lobed. The lobes are lanceolate to ovate in outline, serrate, and pubescent on the lower surface. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are solitary or in corymbs. Each head has 0-8 white ray flowers and 20-60 yellow disc flowers. The fruit is a fusiform achene with 2 retrorsely barbed awns. Shepherd's Needle is sometimes available from native plant nurseries as seed. It prefers a well-draining soil in full sun. It should be planted away from well-traveled areas as the seed will readily attach to clothing and animal fur. It is frost sensitive, and will have to be grown as an annual in most of Alabama. Shepherd's Needle bloom profusely in the late autumn and attracts many butterflies and other insects. It is a vector for root nematodes and tomato spotted wilt virus, so it should not be planted in garden plots or in beds with other plants. Shepherd's Needle contain a wide variety of phytochemicals that have been used in traditional medicine. The crushed leaves have been applied to wounds for their antibiotic properties, and parts of the plant have been consumed as a vegetable.--A. Diamond
Taxonomic Notes:Bidens alba is probably not native to Alabama. When Mohr published "Plant Life of Alabama" in 1901, he remarked that he only knew it as a "fugitive on ballast" referring to the old ballast ground in and around Mobile. That limitation is certainly not the ubiquitous weed we know today throughout most of the coastal plain especially pernicious in the outer coastal plain.|||| Bidens alba is part of the "pilosa complex" which includes neotropical taxa some of which have expanded their range into the SE US. True Bidens alba (in the strict sense) produces two awns on the cypselae and produces white rays often 1 cm or more long. The other species in our flora is Bidens pilosa, which typically produces three awns on the cypselae and does not produce rays or if so they are 3 mm ore more long. Some specimens have been observed to have the longer rays but with a third reduced awn on the fruit. This may indicate some introgression among both of the non-native taxa. Several specimens here and under B. pilosa need to be reevaluated and assigned to the correct taxon accordingly.--B.R. Keener
Status:Not Native, FACW- (NWI)
References:**
Specimen: View specimen details in the Alabama Herbarium Consortium Specimen Database

** Not applicable or data not available.

Classification

FamilyASTERACEAE - Aster family
Genus Bidens
Species Bidens alba (L.) DC. - Beggarticks; Romerillo

Citation

Citation Bidens alba (Linnaeus) de Candolle, Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 5: 605. 1836.
Basionym: Coreopsis alba L. 1753.
Type: "Chrysanthemum Americanum Ciceris folio" in Hermann 1698: 124. (lectotype). EPITYPE: MEXICO: Veracruz, Isla Lobos, cerca de Tuxpan, 14 May 1968, E. Chávez s.n. (epitype, IA). Lectotypified & epitypified by Gallego-Ferrer, Phytotaxa 282: 75. 2016.

** Not applicable or data not available.

Synonyms

SynonymFull CitationBasionymType
Bidens alba var. radiata Bidens alba (Linnaeus de Candolle, var. radiata (Schultz Bipontinus) R. E. Ballard ex Melchert, Phytologia 32: 295. 1975.Bidens pilosa Linnaeus, forma radiata Schultz-Bipontinus 1844; Coreopsis leucanthema Linnaeus 1755. 
Bidens leucantha Bidens leucantha Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 3: 1719. 1803, nom. illegit.Coreopsis leucantha Linnaeus 1763, nom. illegit.; Coreopsis leucanthema Linnaeus 1755. 
Coreopsis alba Coreopsis alba Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 908. 1753.  

Specimens and Distribution

This species has been reported in the following counties by the herbaria listed. An overview of the individual specimens are provided in the table that follows. Click on the accession number to view details; click on column headers to sort; choose a county or herbaria to filter the specimen data.

Counties included on distribution map: Baldwin, Bullock, Calhoun, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Dale, Houston, Lee, Pike

Counties represented by specimen data listed below:

Herbaria represented by specimen data listed below: ALNHS, AMAL, AUA, BRIT, UNA, UWAL

Range of years during which specimens were collected: 1992 - 1992

Barcode / Accession No. County Coll. Date Collector &
Collection No.		 Herbarium &
Herbarium Name Used		 Image
AMAL00017523 Conecuh 24 Sep 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
15819		 AMAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
AMAL00021353 Dale 07 Nov 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
16049		 AMAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
BRIT72418 Covington 17 Dec 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
16085		 BRIT
Bidens alba Linnaeus
UWAL0054094 Bullock 18 Nov 2021 Soehren, Eric C.
701		 UWAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
BRIT72415 Houston 04 Nov 2004 Diamond, Alvin R.
14874		 BRIT
Bidens alba Linnaeus
ALNHS00002773 Baldwin 27 Aug 2014 Barger, T. Wayne
SP#1463		 ALNHS
Bidens alba (L.) DC. var. radiata (Schultz-Bip.) Ballard
UWAL0000469 Pike 29 Sep 2007 Woods, Michael
10910		 UWAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
BRIT72413 Pike 01 Nov 2002 Diamond, Alvin R.
13726		 BRIT
Bidens alba Linnaeus
ALNHS00001154 Lee 31 Oct 2011 Barger, T. Wayne
SP#533		 ALNHS
Bidens alba (L.) DC. var. radiata (Schultz-Bip.) Ballard
AMAL00021354 Coffee 07 Nov 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
16048		 AMAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
BRIT72417 Covington 17 Dec 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
16085		 BRIT
Bidens alba Linnaeus
UWAL0012548 Calhoun 24 Oct 2012 Spaulding, Daniel D.
13679		 UWAL
Bidens alba (Linnaeus) DC var. radiata (Schultz-Bip.) Ballard ex T.E. Melchert
UWAL0044119 Baldwin 22 Nov 2001 Larsen, Harry S.
768		 UWAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
AMAL00021357xxxx Baldwin 26 Dec 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
16107		 AMAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
AMAL00021399 Covington 17 Dec 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
16084		 AMAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
BRIT72416 Conecuh 24 Sep 2005 Diamond, Alvin R.
15819		 BRIT
Bidens alba Linnaeus
UWAL0019752 Houston 14 Oct 1996 Kral, Robert
86911		 UWAL
Bidens alba L. var. radiata (Schultz-Bip.) Ballard ex TE Melchert
AUA000043873 Lee 21 Sep 2018 Schotz, Alfred
CSP-551		 AUA
Bidens Alba (L.) Dc.
UNA00059554 Pike 01 Nov 2002 Diamond, Alvin R.
13726		 UNA
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
AMAL00019653 Calhoun 24 Oct 2012 Spaulding, Daniel D.
13679		 AMAL
Bidens alba (L.) DC. var. radiata (Schults-Bip.) Ballard ex T. E. Melchert
AUA000043874 Lee 21 Sep 2018 Schotz, Alfred
CSP-551		 AUA
Bidens Alba (L.) Dc.
UNA00064362 Houston 04 Nov 2004 Diamond, Alvin R.
14874		 UNA
Bidens alba (L.) DC. var. radiata (Schultz-Bip.) Ballard ex T.E. Melchert
UNA00048863 Houston 27 May 1992 MacDonald, John R.
4685		 UNA
Bidens alba (L.) DC.
BRIT72414 Houston 27 May 1992 MacDonald, John R.
4685		 BRIT
Bidens alba Linnaeus
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