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For Your Garden - August 2022
Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.
swamp marigold (Bidens aristosa)
Swamp marigold is also known as tickseed sunflower, bearded beggarticks, bur marigold and several other common names. In Illinois it grows statewide in wet soil. It reaches a height of three to four feet, has deeply divided, toothed leaves and large, yellow flower heads. Leaves are opposite each other on the stem. Flowers are produced from August through October. The plant has many branches and numerous flower clusters are present at once. There are typically seven or eight ray flowers per flower head. The fruit is an achene, a simple dry fruit that does not open at maturity. In this species, it may have barbs. Many pollinating insects are attracted to the flowers.
Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.
Illinois Range
Native Plant Information
For more information about Illinois native plants, visit our Native Habitat Descriptions, Requirements, and Plant Lists page. The following publications are available from the IDNR on our publications page.
Illinois Status: common, native
