Vancouver Island Beggarticks at the Garden City Lands
A rare wetland annual plant has made its home on the Garden City Lands.
Vancouver Island beggarticks (Bidens amplissima) is one of about 230 beggarticks species. Beggarticks (Bidens spp.) are closely related to coreopsis, in the aster family.
It is thought to be recently-evolved, emerging about 13,000 years ago as a hybrid between Bidens tripartita and Bidens cernua. Although beggarticks can be found all over the world, Vancouver Island beggarticks only grows in seasonal wetlands near the Salish Sea, between Campbell River and Tacoma. Due to its small range, Canada and British Columbia both list it as a Species of Special Concern.
It has been found in several locations in Richmond, mostly outside the dyke.
Global range of Vancouver Island beggarticks (left). Richmond observations of Vancouver Island beggarticks recorded on iNaturalist (right).
KPU student Rue Badanic first suggested that Vancouver Island beggarticks was present at the Garden City Lands in August 2022, based on seed shape. Beggarticks seeds have barbed spines that cling to clothing in late summer. In July, 2023, UBC botanist Megan Pawluk confirmed the identity of Vancouver Island beggarticks at the Garden City Lands, based on floral and leaf characteristics. Hundreds of plants were found in 2023, making this the largest population of Vancouver Island beggarticks in Richmond, and among the largest populations anywhere.
Vancouver Island beggarticks was found in areas of the Garden City Lands that were flooded in the wintertime then dried out in spring. It was always found in association with another closely related species, called devil’s beggarticks (Bidens frondosa). Devil’s beggarticks is found throughout North America, and is considered invasive in New Zealand. It was much more abundant than Vancouver Island beggarticks at the Garden City Lands.
Vancouver Island beggarticks (left) and devil's beggarticks (right).
Seeds of Vancouver Island beggarticks (left) and devil's beggarticks (right).
The highest ratio of Vancouver Island beggarticks to devil’s beggarticks was near the northwest corner of the Garden City Lands, at the base of the berm, on soil that had been freshly deposited at the site in 2022.
