SWAMP BEGGAR’S TICK
Bidens connata
COMMON NAMES: Cockhold herb, beggar’s tick, Spanish needles, devil’s pitchfork.
FEATURES: This is a common weed, found in wet grounds, rich fields, swamps, and ditches from New
England to Missouri. The herb has a smooth stem, 1–3 feet high. The leaves are lanceolate, opposite,
serrate, acuminate, and decurrent on the petiole. The terminal florets are yellow and can be seen in
August; the fruit is a wedge-formed achenium.
MEDICAL PART: The whole herb.
SOLVENT: Boiling water.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Emmenagogue, expectorant, antispasmodic, diaphoretic.
USES: Dr. Brown (1857): “The root and seeds are emmenagogue and expectorant; the seeds, in powder or
tincture have been used in amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, and some other uterine derangements, and an
infusion of the root has proved beneficial in severe cough.” It has been used with great success for
palpitation of the heart and for croup. For the latter affliction a strong infusion of the leaves sweetened
with honey and administered in tablespoonful doses every 15 minutes until vomiting is produced is
regarded as a cure. The leaves, heated to the form of a poultice and laid upon the throat and chest in cases
of bronchial and laryngeal attacks from exposure to cold, etc, are very beneficial.
DOSE: 1 teaspoonful of the root, cut small or granulated, to 1 cupful of boiling water. Drink cold 1 cupful
during the day, a large mouthful at a time. Of the tincture, 5–20 drops. Either Bidens bipinnata (Spanish
needles) Bidens connata, or B. frondosa (beggar’s tick) can be employed, both having the same medical
properties.
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: Some variety of Bidens connata grows throughout Russia. Chereda (B. tripartita)
has the most attention medicinally and commercially. The well-dried leaves keep their natural color and
have a specific aroma and an astringent, slightly bitter taste. Folk medicine: Employed Chereda long
before it was written about. Decoctions were used for tension of fear, blood purifying, liver trouble,