Beggar's Ticks!

I have yet to figure out the new camera so the pictures for today are from several weeks ago.  I was out cutting grass near the base of the pier when I spied a lovely wildflower!  Honestly, most folks around here call them weeds as they do anything that voluntarily pops up outside the well-tended flower gardens.  My gardens are more "wild and woolly" so if I see a weed that blooms, it is definitely a wildflower that needs to be where it sprouted!  Sometimes, I will take a notion to dig up all these freebie plants and try to contain them in the garden plots but more oft than not, I just veer my mower around the plant and leave it be.  I like wildflowers...even if they are weeds!

The plant in question that day was none other than a perfect specimen of Beggar's Tick.  It has bright green leaves, squarish stems and white flowers with the brightest yellow centers!  Those blooms are quite the attractor for butterflies and honeybees!  It is not the pretty little flowers that most folks will recollect when asked about Beggar's Ticks.  It is the seeds that are memorable!  If you have ever taken a walk near these plants (especially with a long-haired dog!), you will know what I mean by "memorable"!  Beggar's Tick seeds are those spiky stick-like seeds that attach themselves to your pants legs, socks, and shoe laces.  Those same ones that get matted into the dog's fur and are almost impossible to remove!  It is by this method that the plants are spread far and wide!  Anything that brushes against the plant when the seeds are ripe becomes a carrier.

Beggar's Ticks belong to the genus of flowers called Bidens.  This group contains about two hundred different plants that are all sort of lumped together.  The white-flowering Beggar's Tick that was in the yard is one called Romerilla.   Recently, I was reading where the leaves of the Beggar's Tick plant can be dried and made into tea.  There are several qualities that interest me about this tea. Egyptian scientists are studying the plant as an antimicrobial, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory!  It is said to have shown anti-cancer activity as well!  These are all positive effects of a ordinary plant..a weed.  The downside?  Ingesting the plant might make you more sensitive to the sun, so use it when you are not going to be outside for a long period of time.  It seems as if the plant might have a place in my herb garden even if the seeds are little "Stick-tights"!