Smooth Beggarticks
Bidens laevis
Found in marshes, stream banks, ditches. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
90
Keystone
Native to Virginia. 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 47 Virginia 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
Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
21CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Bidens
- Cecropterus lyciadesHoary Edge
- Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
- Cirrhophanus trianguliferGoldenrod Stowaway, Beggarticks Seedcropper
- Condica confederataThe Confederate
- Condica mobilisMobile Groundling
- Dichomeris juncidellaOrange-Dotted Dichomeris
- Epiblema abruptanaAbrupt Epiblema
- Epiblema otiosanaBidens Borer Moth
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
Show all 21
- Palthis asopialisFaint-Spotted Palthis
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Platynota stultanaOmnivorous Leafroller
- Pyrausta tyralisCoffee-Loving Pyrausta
- Pyrrhia exprimensPurple-Lined Sallow, Purple-Lined Sun Moth
- 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
- Agonopterix atrodorsella
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
| Virginia rank | S5 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
In your garden
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Sources
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- 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