Common name: Beggarticks, Spanish needle, Hitchhikers. Tamil Name: Mukkuthi
Beggarticks is a annual native to America and grows to a height of about 1 meter. Some plants are very small and still manage to flower profusely. The stem is square shaped in cross section. The leaves have a dentate margin, deeply lobed and have a winged petiole. The leaf shape is ovate-lanceolate with an acute tip and a truncate base. The leaves measure around 12 cm in length. The inflorescence stalk is very long and bear the flower heads. Each flower heads measure around 1.2 cm across. The ray flowers number around 5 nos. and can be distinguished by the bilobed corolla. The disk flowers are yellow. The fruit is in the form of achenes. The seeds are stiff curved and have needle like attachments. These seeds get attached to animals and are dispersed far and wide. Each plant produces around 30000 seeds and have high rate of viability. Beggarticks has successfully established itself in all hill station areas in Western Ghats areas. They are highly invasive. The flowers are pollen and nectar rich frequented by butterflies and other insects.
