Cosmos (plant)

Cosmos (plant)
For other uses, see Cosmos (disambiguation).
Cosmos
Cosmos bipinnatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Coreopsideae
Genus: Cosmos
Cav.[1]
Species

See text.

Cosmos is a genus, with the same common name of Cosmos, of about 20–26 species of annual and perennial plants in the family Asteraceae.

Contents

Range

Cosmos and old house in Japan

Cosmos is native to scrub and meadow areas in Mexico where most of the species occur, Florida and the southern United States, Arizona, Central America, and to South America in the north to Paraguay in the south.

Description

Cosmos are herbaceous perennial plants growing 0.3–2 m tall. The leaves are simple, pinnate, or bipinnate, and arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are produced in a capitulum with a ring of broad ray florets and a center of disc florets; flower color is very variable between the different species. The genus includes several ornamental plants popular in gardens. Numerous hybrids and cultivars have been selected and named.

Selected species

References

  1. ^ "Genus Cosmos Cav.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 1998-09-07. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2986. Retrieved 2011-02-13. 
  2. ^ "GRIN Species Records of Cosmos". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2986. Retrieved 2011-02-13. 
  3. ^ "Cosmos". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=37161. Retrieved 2011-02-13. 

External links


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