Leafy Succession

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

A series of foliage (Latin Bidens frondosa) - herbaceous annual plant of the genus Chereda (lat. Bidens). It differs from other species of the genus by the rarest phenomenon of marginal sterile flowers, the appearance of the bracts and fruits with a particularly formidable appearance, giving rise to many popular names in which the devil is mentioned.

What's in your name

The leafy string is perhaps the most representative species of the genus, excellently demonstrating the meaning of the first word in the plant name, "Bidens". Indeed, translated from Latin, this word speaks of the presence of a plant "two teeth". It is precisely two such pronounced "teeth" that are found in the fruits of the Leaves, which armed its achenes with two sharp awns, clearly visible in the photo below:

The formidable appearance of the seeds of the plant gave rise to such popular names as "Devil's Pitchfork", "Devil's Catching Hook".

The plant owes to the adjective “leafy” (“frondosa”) its external bracts, which are distinguished by their length, number and bristly edges.

Description

An annual herbaceous plant The leafy string (Latin Bidens frondosa) most often rises to a height of 20 to 60 cm. Under very favorable environmental conditions, the string can manifest miracles and grow up to 180 cm.

Erect stems have a square cross-section. The surface of the stems is usually smooth, tinted green or purple. The stems are overgrown with lateral shoots, revealing lush, branchy bushes to the world.

The leaves of the Leaves are complex, collected from 3-5 independent spear-shaped leaves on a thin stalk. The external similarity of the leaves with a spear is created due to the narrowing of the end of the leaf plate. The sharply serrated edge of the leaves gives them a graceful appearance. In contrast to the smooth surface, the underside of the leaves is covered with soft short hairs.

Inflorescence baskets are most often devoid of marginal flowers. This does not at all reduce the decorativeness of inflorescences that appear at the ends of branching stems in splendid isolation, or 2-3 pieces each. The tiny yellow-orange flowers of the central disc of the inflorescence are composed of five coquettish lobes.

Internal and external bracts give a special charm to the inflorescence.

The inner bracts, surrounding the central disc of the inflorescence in a dense ring, are similar to twin brothers, having the same size, ovoid shape and brownish-green or yellow color.

Trying to distinguish themselves from the internal bracts, the external bracts, represented by narrow-spatula green leaves, have unequal sizes, well noticeable hairiness along the edges and are located at a distance from each other. Their number ranges from 5 to 12 pieces per inflorescence.

You can admire the inflorescence with bracts in the photo below:

The culmination of the vegetative cycle is round seedlings that are larger than flower discs. They consist of dark brown or brown-black seeds, the upper part of which is armed with two serrated awns, reminiscent of superstitious people "devil's pitchfork".

Spreading

Born in North America, the unpretentious leafy string has spread widely around the world, populating roadsides, fields and pastures in Europe, Asia, North Africa, as well as New Zealand, where it is on the list of annoying weeds.

Some people confuse a series of foliage with a series of leafy lobes (Latin Bidens connata) for the similarity of their inflorescences. But the Sereda has a multi-lobed stem more often of a purple color, the leaves are simple, and the seeds have from 2 to 4 awns.

Also, the Leaves Seed is distinguished from other species of the Sereda genus by its denser and coarsely hairy bracts.