Tall Beggarticks
Bidens vulgata
Found in fields, marshes, wet places. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- Up to about 5 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to wet
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual
- Bloom
- August to October
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 2 West Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.
Who uses this plant?
17CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Bidens
- Cecropterus lyciadesHoary Edge
- Cecropterus pyladesNorthern Cloudywing
- Cirrhophanus trianguliferGoldenrod Stowaway, Beggarticks Seedcropper
- Condica mobilisMobile Groundling
- Dichomeris juncidellaOrange-Dotted Dichomeris
- Epiblema abruptanaAbrupt Epiblema
- Epiblema otiosanaBidens Borer Moth
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Palthis asopialisFaint-Spotted Palthis
Show all 17
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Pyrausta tyralisCoffee-Loving Pyrausta
- Pyrrhia exprimensPurple-Lined Sallow, Purple-Lined Sun Moth
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- 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
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Flower color
- Yellow
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “August to October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “Up to about 5 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (ranked first; Minnesota Wildflowers differs)
- Life cycle · “Annual” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Soil · “Dry; Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Big Devils Beggar Ticks
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S5 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition
- West Virginia occurrence source
- 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