Bidens laevis(L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.

smooth beggartick

WFO wfo-0000008535 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Bidens laevis, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. a Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-05-18 / obs. 199001765
Bidens laevis, photographed by Matias Cabezas
fig. b Matias Cabezas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 192587218
Bidens laevis, photographed by Sebastián Fornés
fig. c Sebastián Fornés, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189836373
Bidens laevis, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. d Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186635965
Bidens laevis, photographed by Nonbinary-Naturalist
fig. e Nonbinary-Naturalist, CC0 1.0 / obs. 172819299
Bidens laevis, photographed by Samuel A Schmid, PhD, PWS
fig. f Samuel A Schmid, PhD, PWS, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 171348340
Bidens laevis, photographed by natalie
fig. g natalie, CC0 1.0 / obs. 170100996
Bidens laevis, photographed by Samuel A Schmid, PhD, PWS
fig. h Samuel A Schmid, PhD, PWS, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 167631122

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 48 botanical countries

Regions where Bidens laevis is native: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Brazil South, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay AlabamaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiMissouriNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaOhioPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVirginiaWest VirginiaArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBrazil SouthColombiaCubaEcuadorParaguayPeruUruguay DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Bidens laevis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Nevada NEV
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Ohio OHI
Pennsylvania PEN
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Brazil South BZS
Colombia CLM
Cuba CUB
Ecuador ECU
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Uruguay URU

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 374 in flower of 377 examined

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Bidens laevis observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 374 of 377 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 3 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Bidens chrysanthemoides Michx.
  • Bidens chrysanthemoides var. chrysanthemoides
  • Bidens chrysanthemoides var. nashii (Small) Jeps.
  • Bidens elegans Greene
  • Bidens expansa Greene
  • Bidens formosa Greene
  • Bidens helianthoides Kunth
  • Bidens lugens Greene
  • Bidens nashii Small
  • Bidens nashii Small
  • Bidens parryi Greene
  • Bidens persicifolia Greene
  • Bidens quadriaristata DC.
  • Bidens quadriaristata var. quadriaristata
  • Bidens speciosa Parish
  • Coreopsis flammula Banks ex Steud.
  • Coreopsis perfoliata Walter
  • Coreopsis radiata Mill.
  • Helianthus laevis L.
  • Heliopsis laevis (L.) Pers.
  • Heliopsis laevis var. laevis
  • Kerneria helianthoides Cass.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.