BEGGARTICKS, STICKTIGHT, RAYLESS MARIGOLD, BEGGARLICE,
PITCHFORKS, or STICK-SEED (B. frondosa) sufficiently explains its
justly defamed character in its popular names. Numerous dull,
dark, tawny orange flower-heads without, rays, or with
insignificant ones scarcely to be detected, and surrounded by
taller leaf-like bracts, add little to the beauty of the
moist
fields and roadsides where they rear themselves on long peduncles
from July to October. The smooth, erect, branched, and often
reddish, stem may be anywhere from two to nine feet tall. Usually
the upper leaves are not divided, but the lower ones are
pinnately compounded of three to five divisions, the segments
lance-shaped or broader, and sharply toothed. As in all the
bur-marigolds, we find each floret's calyx converted into a
barbed implement - javelin, pitchfork, or halberd - for grappling
the clothing of the first innocent victim unwittingly acting as a
colonizing agent.
Previous: LANCELEAVED TICKSEED GOLDEN COREOPSIS
Next: SNEEZEWEED SWAMP SUNFLOWER
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