Trifid bur-marigold – who is that?
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Trifid bur-marigold
Trifid bur-marigold; three-part beggarticks Kolmisruse Bidens tripartita
A flowerer of muddy habitats. If we find the bur-marigold in a grain field it indicates that the field is too wet and not suited for grains. Other locations are ditch and pond banks, wheel tracks left by heavy agricultural or forest machinery.
Quite often the dark green leaves on the branching stems of the plant are shiny. Between them the small flowers, gathered in composite flowerheads, show off nicely. If you take the time to study them in detail you will see that the flowers consist mostly of disk florets and only seldom a ray floret might be found on the outside of the flowerhead. The disk florets have both pistils and stamens but the ray flowers only pistils..
In late autumn the fruits of the bur-marigold have ripened; the “seeds” (achenes) of the plant resemble that of a sunflower – dark brown coloured and shiny. At the tip of are 2-3 bristles, on them small hooks and such hooked fruits many hikers have picked from their clothes or from the fur of pets. So the bur-marigold ensures its distribution.
The bur marigold has a quite strong anti-allergic effect, so it surely has a future use against the „illness of the century“.
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