purplestem beggar-ticks, Bidens connata

Beggar-ticks are not the flashiest wildflowers. Many of them don't have ray flowers, and look a lot like this. And then they produce those annoying pronged burs. Most aster family flowers have five lobes. It's hard to see here, but this species and some others in Bidens and the closely-related Coreopsis have four. Does that make this at least a little interesting? Even if you can't see that here? Go to the blog page to see the rest of this story. Purplestem grows in wetlands in AL, CT, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI(S), SC, SD, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV, NB, NS, ON, PE, and QC. Leelanau Co MI, 9/17/13. Aster family, Asteraceae.