Leafy beggar ticks is a sometimes weedy native annual with erect stems from 20-120 cm high. The pinnately compound leaves with 3-5 lanceolate leaflets which taper to pointed tips are borne on long petioles from 1-6 cm long. Individual leaflets have serrate margins and measure up to 10 cm long and to 3 cm wide. The upper surfaces of the leaves is glabrous although the lower surfaces may be sparsely covered with some short hairs.
The inflorescence is an open cluster of several flower heads at the tips of the stems. The flower heads are somewhat bell-shaped with the disk measuring up to 1 cm wide. The heads lack ray flowers. The 5-8 leafy bracts tend to surpass the disk in length. The fruits are dark brown or blackish, flat achenes measuring from 5-10 mm long. Two barbed pappus may be found at the back of the achene. These commonly hitch a ride on the fur of animals or clothes and shoes of humans.
Leafy beggar ticks may be found on moist ground, or occasionally in dry waste places. It is fairly common in disturbed low places such as vernal pools or along streams and on river banks..
Leafy beggar ticks may be found from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland south to Virginia and Louisiana and west to Washington, Oregon and California.
In the Columbia River Gorge it may be found between the elevations of 0'-700' between Troutdale, OR and Horsethief Butte.
