Bidens pilosa 

'Hairy Beggar-ticks'

[Ex. Gouves, Crete, Greece]

Asteraceae: an annual growing up to 1.8m. Found on damp lowland fields and wasteland. The flowers are borne in small heads on relatively long peduncles. The heads bear about four-five broad white ray florets, surrounding many tubular yellow disc florets. The fruits are slightly curved, stiff, rough black rods, tetragonal in cross section, about 1cm long, with typically two to three stiff, heavily barbed. The leaves are oppositely arranged and pinnate in form with three to five dentate, ovate-to-lanceolate leaflets. Native to the Americas but it is known widely as an introduced species of other regions, including Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

USES:

The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked, and have a resinous flavour. They can be added to salads or steamed and added to soups and stews, they can also be dried for later use. A good source of iodine. Young shoot tips are used to make a tea. In traditional Chinese medicine, this plant is considered a medicinal herb, called xian feng cao (Chinese: 咸豐草).

A juice made from the leaves is used to dress wounds and ulcers. A decoction of the leaves has anti-inflammatory, styptic and alterative properties. The whole plant is antirheumatic, it is also used in enemas to treat intestinal ailments. Substances isolated from the leaves are bactericidal and fungicidal, they are used in the treatment of thrush and candida. In traditional Bafumbira medicine, this plant is applied on a fresh wound and is known to be a medicinal herb, called inyabalasanya.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Haven’t tried this one yet. But being an annual to should do well with the average British summer. Surface sow seeds in spring, keep moist and warm. Moist well-drained soil, in full sun to part shade.

NOTES: Germinated in a week after treatment with Gibberellic acid [GA3]. I think they will germinate just as

fast without treatment.

HARVESTED: 2022*

 
APPROX. 100 SEEDS