barry,
i stumbled across the spanish needle while reading up on honey plants, i thought i would post this for you. this description comes from John Lovell's book; Honey Plants of North America (1926):
"SPANISH NEEDLES (Bidens aristosa)
The honey has a golden color, excellent flavor, and good body, weighing full 12 pounds to the gallon. It is so thick that there is little water to evaporate and the cells can be sealed soon after they are filled. This plant has showy, large yellow-rayed heads, and yields immense quantities of honey along the bottom lands of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. It is found in swamps from Illinois to Louisiana, blooming from August to October and yielding a honey which is superior to, or is unsurpassed by, that from any other fall flowers.
A typical Spanish needles-swamp is located at the foot of the bluffs of the Illinois river where there is a broad expanse of low marshy land from 3 to 5 miles wide. This land is subject to an overflow from the river once a year, which usually occurs in early spring. This renders a large portion of the soil unfit for tilling purposes and in consequence Spanish needles has secured a permanent foothold to the exclusion and of nearly all other plants. Early in September the bright yellow rays begin to appear, and in a short time the whole district is aglow, and its dazzling brilliancy reminds one of a burnished sheet of gold. The bee’s revel in this great field of flowers, so rich in nectar, and rapidly store a surplus. A single colony stored 63 pounds of honey in six days and 43 colonies produced 2021 pounds and 10 days, an average of 47 pounds per colony.
There are many other species of Bidens widely distributed throughout America, all of which are of more or less value to the bee’s. The common beggar-ticks (Bidens frondosa) is one of the most abundant. They are all fall flowers, and usually grow in wet places, one species being aquatic."
