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Bidens

Bidens is a genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae. The genus include roughly 230 species which are distributed worldwide. Despite their global distribution, the systematics and taxonomy of the genus has been described as complicated and unorganized. The common names beggarticks, black jack, burr marigolds, cobbler's pegs, Spanish needles, stickseeds, tickseeds and tickseed sunflowers refer to the fruits of the plants, most of which are bristly and barbed. The generic name refers to the same character; Bidens comes from the Latin bi ("two") and dens ("tooth").

Phylogeny, taxonomy and diversity

Despite their global distribution, the systematics and taxonomy of the genus has been described as complicated and unorganized. The genus include roughly 230 species.

Bidens is closely related to the American genus Coreopsis, and the genera are sometimes difficult to tell apart; in addition, neither is monophyletic.

Species

Species include:

Formerly placed here

Distribution

Bidens includes roughly 230 species which are distributed worldwide throughout many tropical and warm temperate regions. Species occur in the Americas, Africa, Polynesia, Europe and Asia.

Bidens are zoochorous; their seeds will stick to clothing, fur or feathers, and be carried to new habitat. This has enabled them to colonize a wide range, including many oceanic islands. Some of these species occur only in a very restricted range and several are now threatened with extinction, notably in the Hawaiian Islands. Due to the absence of native mammals on these islands, some of the oceanic island taxa have reduced burrs, evolving features that seem to aid in dispersal by the wind instead.

Human use and interactions

Nodding beggarticks (B. cernua) and hairy beggarticks (B. pilosa) are useful as honey plants. Several Bidens species are used as food by the caterpillars of certain Lepidoptera, such as the noctulian moth Hypercompe hambletoni and the brush-footed butterfly Vanessa cardui, the painted lady.

The Bidens mottle virus, a plant pathogen, was first isolated from B. pilosa, and it infects many other Asteraceae and plants of other families.

Native Hawaiians drink a special tea out of their leaves (known collectively as koʻokoʻolau) back when they were abundant in Hawaii.

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References

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