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bident penché, bur-marigold, nodding beggar-ticks, nodding beggars-ticks, nodding beggartick, nodding bur-marigold

Habit Annuals, (2–)20–100(–400+) cm (stems sometimes rooting at proximal nodes).
Leaves

(rarely in 3s) sessile;

blades lance-ovate or oblanceolate to lanceolate or linear, 40–100(–200+) × (2–)5–25(–45+) mm, bases cuneate to rounded, margins usually coarsely dentate to serrate, sometimes entire, sometimes ciliate, apices acute to acuminate, faces glabrous.

Peduncles

10–40(–100+) mm.

Involucres

± hemispheric or broader, (3–)6–10 × (8–)12–20+ mm.

Ray florets

usually 6–8, sometimes 0;

laminae orange-yellow, 2–15(–18) mm.

Disc florets

(10–)40–100(–150+);

corollas orange-yellow, 3–4 mm.

Phyllaries

6–8+, ovate or lance-ovate to lanceolate, 2–10 mm.

Calyculi

of (3–)5–8(–10) spreading to reflexed, oblong to lance-linear, often ± foliaceous bractlets or bracts (3–)8–12(–25+) mm, margins usually ciliate, abaxial faces usually glabrous, bases sometimes hispidulous.

Heads

(erect or nodding at flowering, usually nodding in fruit) borne singly or in open, ± corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

blackish or brown, usually ± flattened, sometimes ± 4-angled, ± cuneate, outer (3–)5–6+ mm, inner 4–8 mm, margins (± thickened or winged) retrorsely ciliate, apices ± truncate to convex, faces ± striate, glabrous or tuberculo-strigillose;

pappi of (2–)4, ± erect, retrorsely barbed awns (1–)2–4 mm.

2n

= 24, 48.

Bidens cernua

Phenology Flowering late (Jul–)Aug–Sep(–Oct).
Habitat Swamps, marshes, peat and sedge bogs, flood plains
Elevation 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Europe; Asia
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Bidens cernua is used medicinally to treat urinary-tract infections.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 215.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Coreopsidinae > Bidens
Sibling taxa
B. amplissima, B. aristosa, B. aurea, B. beckii, B. bidentoides, B. bigelovii, B. bipinnata, B. connata, B. discoidea, B. eatonii, B. frondosa, B. heterodoxa, B. heterosperma, B. hyperborea, B. laevis, B. lemmonii, B. leptocephala, B. mitis, B. pilosa, B. polylepis, B. tenuisecta, B. trichosperma, B. tripartita, B. vulgata
Synonyms B. cernua var. elliptica, B. cernua var. integra, B. cernua var. minima, B. cernua var. oligodonta, B. cernua var. radiata, B. filamentosa, B. glaucescens, B. gracilenta, B. minima, B. prionophylla
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 832. (1753)
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