Smooth Beggarticks
Bidens laevis
Found in marshes, stream banks, ditches. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
91
Keystone
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- About 3.3 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- August to November
- Fruiting season
- Summer to fall
JFMAMJJASOND
Not yet recorded · Spread
Recorded in 44 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
1 of 3
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
26CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Bidens
- Cecropterus lyciadesHoary Edge
- Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
- Cirrhophanus trianguliferGoldenrod Stowaway, Beggarticks Seedcropper
- Condica concisaConcise Groundling
- Condica confederataThe Confederate
- Condica cupentiaSplotched Groundling
- Condica mobilisMobile Groundling
- Dichomeris juncidellaOrange-Dotted Dichomeris
- Epiblema abruptanaAbrupt Epiblema
- Epiblema otiosanaBidens Borer Moth
Show all 26
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Lorita scarificataChrysanthemum Flower Borer
- Nathalis ioleDainty Sulphur, Dwarf Yellow
- Notioplusia illustrataNotioplusia Moth
- Palthis asopialisFaint-Spotted Palthis
- Platynota stultanaOmnivorous Leafroller
- Pyrausta tyralisCoffee-Loving Pyrausta
- Scopula aemulataRival Wave
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
- Mescinia estrella
- Platphalonidia subolivacea
76BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Bidens
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
8Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Bidens
- Andrena aliciae
- Andrena chromotricha
- Dianthidium curvatum
- Dieunomia heteropoda
- Megachile inimica
- Megachile parallela
- Megachile xylocopoides
- Melissodes denticulatus
10BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Bidens
- Acanthis flammeaCommon Redpoll
- Aix sponsaWood Duck
- Anas platyrhynchosMallard
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Dendrocygna bicolorFulvous Whistling-Duck
- Fulica americanaAmerican Coot
- Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
- Porzana carolinaSora
- Rallus limicolaVirginia Rail
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Beetles 1
- Diabrotica 12-punctata
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Flies 6
- Anthrax halcyon
- Archytas aterrima
- Hydrophoria ambigua
- Scepsis fulvicollis
- Siphoplagia anomala
- Systoechus vulgaris
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Adult butterflies / moths 9
- Anosia plexippus
- Feltia subgothica
- Heliothis armiger
- Heliothis dipsaceus
- Hylephila phylaeus
- Phyciodes tharos
- Plusia simplex
- Vanessa atalanta
- Vanessa huntera
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 4
- Eumenes fraternus
- Exetastes suaveolens
- Polistes annularis
- Polistes pallipes
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Other insects
Growing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 6b–11b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to neutral
- Flower color
- Brown/copper or yellow
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth habit
- Single crown
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Fall
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “August to November” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Brown/copper or yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differ)
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Fall” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Single crown” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Rapid” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Hardiness · “Zones 6b–11b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “About 3.3 feet” · USDA PLANTS (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs) · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Annual” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally wet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Soil pH · “Acidic to neutral” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Smooth Beggar Ticks
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
In your garden
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Choose a county to begin.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications