Stink Daisies - Weeds I Like

Another weed I like is Spanish needles, Bidens alba, which my father called "Stink Daisies," so that's what we grew up naming them. I have no idea how the name originated - neither the flower heads nor the foliage, even when crushed, has much odor at all. The ray flowers are a bright, startling white, and the disk florets a deep orange-yellow. Foliage is bright yellow green. Many heads do not have a full complement of ray florets, giving them a cheerful "snaggle-toothed" appearance.

Bidens alba

I have tried, somewhat half-heartedly, to domesticate it by growing it in a large pot, but didn't have much success. The plant seems determined to follow its cycle of growing, flowering, and turning ratty, no matter where it is. An individual plant is not very floriferous, but a stand of Bidens alba makes a graceful clump of green and white. Pollinators of all kinds love the heads, just one of the reasons I don't pull all of the plants. I like them too. They just seem cheerful, and certainly are tough enough to take anything Florida can throw at them. When they get nasty-looking I pull them out, confident that they'll pop up again somewhere soon.

According to the USDA Plants Database, the species has a somewhat sporadic distribution. It is vouchered for all of the Southeast, except Mississippi, but shows up again in Louisiana. It also occurs in New Mexico, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island. I can't imagine it hasn't crept into Texas and a few other places by now.

Apart from its determination to go ratty-looking fairly quickly, the plant has another annoying aspect - its seeds. The seed is  hard, not quite one-half inch long, with 2 hooks at one end. These hooks attach themselves to any clothing or fur that passes near them, and have a special fondness for  socks. They are persistent - don't wash out in the laundry, or if they do, they just reattach themselves to some other garment. They have to be picked off laboriously, one by one. Leave one in a sock and the hooks will be prickling you soon.

Graceful Form of Spanish Needles

Judging by the behavior in my yard, and what I have observed in disturbed or weedy areas, the seeds have great viability. Most times of the year you will find Spanish needles growing and blooming somewhere, even in pavement cracks.

Roger Hammer, in his book Florida Keys Wildflowers, writes that the  plant is used medicinally in the Bahamas, to bring down fever, settle the stomach, and to cure worms in children. (p. 147).  Lantz and Deuerling write in Florida's Incredible Wild Edibles that the petals can be eaten in salads, and that young leaves and stems can be cooked as greens. (pp. 9, 13). Lantz goes on to give more detailed cooking instructions in her Florida's Edible Wild Plants, (pp. 77-78), and also reports the claim that crushing the leaves and soaking your hands in the Spanish needles water will relieve the itching from fiberglass and prickly pear glochids. (p. 80).

A neighbor across the street, has mowed around a patch of Spanish needles. It looks nice. The neighbor next to him has left a clump at the base of his mailbox, and recently on Marco Island I saw another yard where the mowers had spared the plants. That tickles me no end.


Roger L. Hammer. Florida Keys Wildflowers. Falcon. The Globe Pequot Press. 2004.

Richard J. Deureling & Peggy S. Lantz. Florida's Incredible Wild Edibles. Florida Native Plant Society. 1993. 1995.

Peggy Sias Lantz. Florida's Edible Wild Plants: A Guide to Collecting and Cooking. Seaside Publishing. 2014.