Bigelow's beggarticks

Bidens bigelovii

Physical Characteristics

Bidens bigelovii is a ANNUAL/PERENNIAL growing to 0.8 m (2ft 7in). See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 6. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Insects. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil.

Distribution

Southern N. America.

Habitats

Cultivated Beds;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Edible Uses: Tea A tea is made from the flowering tips[177]. Edible Uses & Rating: Leaves and young shoots are edible raw or cooked, and flowers can be steeped as tea. Seeds (cypselae) should not be eaten due to barbed awns that pose choking hazards [2-3]. Edibility rating: 3/5) — good leafy vegetable, unsafe seeds. Taste, Processing & Kitchen Notes: Fresh leaves are similar to lettuce but with a salty, fishy, resinous accent that becomes milder after brief boiling. Texture is soft, pleasant, neither fibrous nor slimy. Cooked leaves are excellent as potherbs or teas, pairing well with rice, fish, and beans. Flower and leaf tea is reddish-brown, aromatic, and captures the appealing flavor components—one of the better native herbal teas of the Southwest [2-3]. The cypselae can be used only after toasting, pounding, boiling, and filtering to make a beverage that tastes fruit-like, faintly marine, and unique—but ingesting unprocessed cypselae is dangerous [2-3]. Seasonality (Phenology): Leaves: mid-summer to autumn. Flowers: July–October. Seeds: autumn, often sticking to clothes after field contact. Traditional / Indigenous Use Summary: Native peoples and early settlers in Texas brewed flower tea for relaxation and mild stomach upset. Leaves used as food and herbal tonic.

Medicinal Uses

None known

Known Hazards

None known