Spanish needles (Bidens alba)

Also known as: beggarticks, shepherd's needles, butterfly needles

⚠️ Safety note: Harvest only from unsprayed areas away from roads and agricultural fields. This is one of the lowest-risk wild Florida greens, but confirm the white daisy flowers and barbed seeds to be sure of the ID; Florida's Bidens is B. alba (B. pilosa does not occur in Florida).

Quick Facts

• Edible parts: Young leaves and tender young shoots.
• Part: greens
• Season: Year-round in Florida, with the best young shoots in spring through fall.
• Type: herb
• Where in Florida: Statewide, especially common in South and Central Florida, in gardens, roadsides, farm fields, and disturbed sites.

How to Recognize It

Upright branching plant 2 to 5 feet tall with daisy-like white flowers around a yellow center, blooming much of the year in Florida. Leaves are compound with toothed leaflets. The famous seed heads are flat, black, two-pronged 'needles' that stick to clothing and fur — the plant's unmistakable signature.

How to Eat It

Eat young leaves fresh in salads or cook them as a potherb by boiling like other leafy greens; traditional Florida use also includes dried leaves steeped as a tea. Use only the young, tender growth — older leaves are tougher.

One plant can produce thousands of seeds that stay viable for years — harvesting leaves has zero population impact. Leave some flowers standing for butterflies and bees, which rely on it heavily.

UF/IFAS confirms Bidens alba is the native Florida species, and Florida botanists note that Bidens pilosa has never truly established in the state — so Florida foragers only need to learn one plant.

🌱 Fun fact: A single Spanish needles plant can produce 3,000 to 6,000 seeds that stay viable for at least three to five years, and the seeds hitchhike on clothing and fur thanks to their two backward-pointing barbs.

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🌿 Keep exploring

More Florida natives worth meeting:

• Dollarweed (Hydrocotyle umbellata)
• Peppergrass (Lepidium virginicum)
• Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)

🌿 Also see the native-plant profile for this same species: Spanish Needles (Bidens alba) — growing notes, habitat, and landscape use.