With the Wild Things: Spanish Needles

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|a With the Wild Things: Spanish Needles |h [electronic resource].

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|a Ft. Myers, Florida : |b Whitaker Center in the College of Arts and Sciences, Florida Gulf Coast University.

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|a 5 podcasts, approximately 1 minute each in length

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|a Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the users responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.

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|a Source: Spanish Needles 1 Length of Segment: 00:01:06 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. A walk along a weedy path often results in picking up a few hitchhikers: seeds of weeds that depend on animals for their dispersal. Some are among the most successful plants and are now found around the world as a result of our travels and movement of livestock. While they may be successful, we usually view them with disdain, giving them names that reflect our dislike of them. One of the most common of these hitchhikers in southwest Florida is known as 'devil’s pitchfork', 'beggar's lice', or 'beggar ticks'. It is also known as 'Spanish needles', reflecting the 18th century contempt for the Spanish who occupied Florida. Spanish needles is one to four feet tall, a member of the Asteraceae family, and is easily recognized by its one inch diameter flowers with ragged white petals and a yellow center. But it is usually first noticed when its half inch long, black, sliver-like, forked-tipped seeds are found clinging to our socks or pants.

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|a Source: Spanish Needles 2 Length of Segment: 00:01:14 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Roadsides of disturbed areas in South Florida are usually quickly invaded by Spanish needles, a one to four foot tall weed that produces one inch diameter daisy-like flowers year-around. Take a close look at those flowers: like daisies and sunflowers, this plant is a composite, meaning that what appears to be a single flower is really a tight cluster of mini flowers working together to produce seeds. There are two kinds of flowers in each cluster: ray flowers that each have a single petal and that ring the cluster, giving it the appearance of a single flower, and tube flowers in the center that lack petals. The white petal of each Spanish needle ray flower has a squared but slightly ragged tip. The number of ray flowers varies from flower cluster to flower cluster and most appear lopsided, seeming to be missing one or more petals. Working together, the white ray flowers and yellow tube flowers attract the insects that pollinate the plant, but even at their best, the composite flowers of Spanish needles aren't especially showy. The tall lanky stems and flowers that look a bit unkempt seem fitting for a vagabond.

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|a Source: Spanish Needles 3 Length of Segment: 00:01:07 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. The weedy plant known as 'Spanish needles' is also sometimes known as 'devil's pitchfork'. To science, it's known as Bidens alba. Bidens means 'two teeth', referring to the two needle-like prongs that extend like tines of a miniature pitchfork from each black, sliver-like seed. All of these names refer to one very functional characteristic of its seeds. A close look at the composite, white-petaled, one inch diameter flower of Spanish needles reveals a tight cluster of yellow tube flowers in the center. Those around the outside mature first, followed by those to the center. The maturing seeds crowd one another at the base, causing the tiny pitchforks to be spread apart, arranged tines-out in a globe much like that formed by the tiny parachutes on the seed heads of a dandelion, another very successful weedy composite flower. A close look at the tines reveals that each is also barbed, an exquisite design for grabbing hold and hanging on for the ride.

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|a Source: Spanish Needles 4 Length of Segment: 00:01:06 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Contrary to some opinions, that pesky plant known as 'Spanish needles' or 'devil's pitchfork' (because of the seeds that stick to our clothes) isn't all bad. It's also a plant whose white and yellow composite flowers produce a steady supply of nectar that's very attractive to butterflies. Indeed, some butterfly gardening guides recommend planting Spanish needles. I don't think so, thank you. There are plenty of volunteer Spanish needle plants in my yard, no need to plant more. Seriously, Spanish needles is a very important nectar plant because it blooms in abundance year-round in South Florida, providing a reliable food supply for many species. While an important nectar plant for adults, however, most butterflies are very specific about where they lay their eggs, selecting other plants that provide optimum nourishment for their caterpillars. To produce more butterflies, we have to provide both nectar for the adults and appropriate greens for their young.

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|a Source: Spanish Needles 5 Length of Segment: 00:01:15 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Because of its abundance in disturbed areas and its dependence on humans and other animals to transport its seeds from place to place, it's not surprising that the plant known as Bidens, or ‘Spanish needles’, has also been used by humans. This sunflower relative may not produce oil-rich seeds that we can munch on, but its succulent leaves and flower heads are edible and eaten as a cooked green. In the West Indies, a tea made from the leaves and flowers of Spanish needles is sometimes used as a folk medicine to reduce a fever, cure a sore throat, treat indigestion, rid a child of worms, or cure urinary infections. Its leaves have been used as a poultice on wounds, and juice squeezed from the leaves has been used as eye-wash. While there's no medical documentation that Spanish needles is truly useful for any of these purposes, it’s not a poisonous plant and some of its relatives have given us chemicals of value. As a wild plant that blooms year-round and produces substantial nectar, Spanish needles is of economic value to us in sustaining honeybee populations, and of aesthetic value in nourishing butterflies.

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|a Spanish Needles.

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|a Dr. Jerry Jackson.

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|t Spanish Needles 1

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|t Spanish Needles 2

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