Crowned Beggarticks

Eight-petaled flowers are rare, so it was a mild surprise to see plantings of Crowned Beggarticks (Bidens trichosperma) near the Museum of History and Industry. The button (or disc) in the flower’s center is just beginning to blossom, ringed by a “crown” of eight pistil-like structures to mimic the number of petals and each aligned with a petal’s axis. Isn’t Nature fascinating? They are native to the Midwest states and the southeastern part of the U.S. where they thrive in peatlands.