Nodding Beggarticks
Other Names: Nodding Bur-Marigold, Sticktight
Family: Asteraceae
Native to: Eastern North America, Interior North America, Western North America, Asia, Europe
Eco benefits: attracts birds
Natural habitat: swamps & bogs, seaside, waters edge, floodplains, forest edge
Shapes: upright
Height: up to 3ft
Unique attractions: flowers
Common uses: naturalized plantings, rain garden
Light: full sun, partial shade
Soil: moist and fertile, tolerates heavy clay, wet, sandy
Nodding-beggarticks is an annual wildflower in the Aster family native to North America and Eurasia. It can be found on shores, wetlands, and waters edge under full sun to part shade. Leaves are coarsely toothed and lance-shaped, arranged in opposite pairs. Large showy flower heads resembling sunflowers bloom from August to October. They turn downward as they mature, hence the name cernua, meaning "nodding". Ducks sometimes eat the seeds and the flowers are especially attractive to native bees!
