Biology:Bidens reptans
| Bidens reptans | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
| |
| Bidens reptans flowering heads and leaves | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Bidens |
| Species: | B. reptans
|
| Binomial name | |
| Bidens reptans (L.) G.Don
| |
Bidens reptans is a species of scrambling perennial plant of the Neotropical realm belonging to the family Asteraceae[1]
Description
Bidens reptans displays these main features:[2]
- It can be a herbaceous, perennial that creeps along the ground, lies atop other vegetation, and it can climb into trees as a woody liana developing branches which dangle.
- Leaves arise opposite one another on stems and may be simple with no subdivisions, or have up to 7 leaflets, which are up to 14 cm long and 12 cm wide (~5½ by 4 3⁄4 inches).
- Flowering heads are all yellow, with each head producing up to 8 petal-like ray florets along the margins, and with an "eye" of up to 30 disk florets with cylindrical corollas.
- The involucre from which the florets emerge consists of two dissimilar series of bracts; there are 5–8, somewhat fleshy, green, external ones and 8-10 interior ones which are thinner in texture and yellowish green.
- The one-seeded, cypsela-type fruits are up to 12 mm long and 1.4 mm wide (~½ by 1⁄16 inches), topped with 2 sharp awns, with each awn bearing backward-pointing barbs.
Distribution
Bidens reptans is native to the Americas from Mexico and the Caribbean south through Central America into South America as far south as Argentina and Bolivia.[3]
Habitat
Bidens reptans occurs in a wide variety of environments, from tropical deciduous forest, oak and pine-oak forest, mangroves, forests beside water bodies, secondary forests and pastures.[2]
Human interactions
Traditional medicinal
In Jamaica, Bidens reptans is reported as used for the common cold and flu.[4] In Costa Rica the leaf is considered medicinal.[5] In Mexico the plant is used to treat injuries.[6]
Honey production
In west-central Mexico, Bidens reptans is listed among the most desirable species of Asteraceae as a source of both nectar and pollen.[7]
Taxonomy
The basionym for Bidens reptans is Coreopsis reptans, published in 1759 by Linnaeus."[3]
Synonyms
In 2026, the following synonyms were accepted for Bidens reptans G.Don:[8]
- Bidens urbanii Roseman (1990)
- Bidens brittonii Sherff (1913)
- Bidens coreopsidis DC (1836)
- Bidens coreopsidis var. reptans (L.) DC. (1836)
- (O.E.Schulz) Sherff (1913) Roseman (1990)
- O.E.Schulz (1911) (Sherff) O.E.Schulz ex Urb. (1929)
- O.E.Schulz (1911) (Greenm.) O.E.Schulz (1911)
- Greenm. (1907) L. (1759)
- Coreopsis variifolia Bidens reptans var. coreopsidis
- Bidens reptans var. tomentosa Bidens rubifolia var. coreopsidis
- Coreopsis chrysantha Salisb. (1796)
- Bidens dissecta Bidens izabalensis
- Bidens reptans var. bipartita Bidens reptans var. brittonii
- (DC.) Sherff (1948) O.E.Schulz (1911)
- (DC.) Baker (1884) Spreng. (1826)
- Bidens boquetiensis Bidens reptans var. dissecta
- Bidens reptans var. urbanii Coreopsis reptans
A variety in alternative taxonomy
Sometimes the taxon Bidens squarrosa var. squarrosa is listed as a variety of Bidens reptans. This odd situation is recognized as an alternative approach in botanical literature to reflect the two taxons' high degree of similarity and common ancestry.[9]
Etymology
The genus name Bidens is from the New Latin bi, meaning "two", and dens meaning "tooth"; so "two-toothed," alluding to the two bristle-like awns atop the original species' cypselae.[10]
The species name reptans comes from the Latin reptāre, meaning "to creep," reflecting the fact that when not climbing the species creeps along the ground.[11]
-
Bidens reptans flowering heads -
Bidens reptans 2 series of involucral bracts -
Bidens reptans disk florets -
Bidens reptans cypselae awns with backward-pointing barbs -
Bidens reptans spine-like appendages -
Bidens reptans climbing into forest
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
References
- ↑ "Bidens reptans G.Don". United Kingdom: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:185190-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Villarreal Q., José; Estrada C., Eduardo (December 2024). "Asteraceae Tribu Coreopsideae" (in Spanish). Flora de Veracruz (Xalapa, Veracruz, México: Instituto de Ecología, A.C.) 206: 36–41. https://libros.inecol.mx/index.php/FV/catalog/book/572. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Bidens reptans (L.) G.Don". Catalogue of Life. February 13, 2026. https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/LSHJ.
- ↑ Lowe, Henry; Steele, Blair; Fouad, Emadelden; Toyang, Ngwa (January 25, 2021). "Antiviral Activity of Jamaican Medicinal Plants and Isolated Bioactive Compounds". Molecules (PubMed Central) 26 (3): 607. doi:10.3390/molecules26030607. PMID 33503834.
- ↑ Kappele, Maarten; Guillaume, Avertin; Juárez, Marta E.; Zamora, Nelson (May 2000). "Useful Plants Within a Campesino Community in a Costa Rican Montane Cloud Forest". Mountain Research and Development (BioOne Digital Library) 20 (2): 162–171. doi:10.1659/0276-4741(2000)020[0162:UPWACC2.0.CO;2]. https://lib.icimod.org/records/jtspd-8n791/files/5915.pdf. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
- ↑ Mendoza Varela, Erika Litzahaya (August 2010) (in spanish). Conocimientos, percepciones y actitudes ambientales de jóvenes de bachillerato de dos cmunidades aledañas a la Reserva de la Biósfera Chamela - Cuixmala. Tesis para maestra en ciencias biológicas. Morelia, Michoacán, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. https://ru.dgb.unam.mx/server/api/core/bitstreams/d4b3df74-46b3-4aed-81e6-c2b29de7e9e4/content. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
- ↑ Redonda-Martínez, Rosario (April 24, 2025). [0162:UPWACC2.0.CO;2.pdf "Especies de Asteraceae con potencial apícola del Centro Occidente de México"] (in Spanish). Acta Botanica Mexicana (México: Instituto de Ecología, A.C.) 132 (e2409): 162. doi:10.21829/abm132.2025.2409. https://bioone.org/journals/mountain-research-and-development/volume-20/issue-2/0276-4741_2000_020_0162_UPWACC_2.0.CO_2/Useful-Plants-Within-a-Campesino-Community-in-a-Costa-Rican/10.1659/0276-4741(2000)020[0162:UPWACC]2.0.CO;2.pdf. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
- ↑ "Bidens reptans G.Don". United Kingdom: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:185190-1.
- ↑ Villaseñor, Jose Luis (1990). "A New Scandent Species of Bidens (Asteraceae) from the Balisas River Basin, Mexico". Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany (California Botanic Garden) 12 (3): 579–582. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1460&context=aliso#:~:text=Page%202,E.. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
- ↑ Strother, John L.; Weedon, Ronald R.. "Bidens Linnaeus. In Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA)". St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA, USA: New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org. pp. 184, 185, 205, 206. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=103917.
- ↑ "Bidens reptans var. speciosa" (in Spanish). Xalapa, Veracruz, México: Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Flora de Veracruz. February 11, 2026. https://diccionariover.uv.mx/egvadmin/bin/view/enciclopedia/Bidens%20reptans%20var.%20speciosa.
Wikidata ☰ Q15593754 entry
 |  |
