Flora of North America species comparison

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Cosmos bipinnatus

cosmos, garden cosmos, Mexican aster
Habit Plants 30–200 cm, glabrous or sparsely puberulent, sometimes scabridulous.
Leaves

petioles 0 or to 1 cm;

blades 6–11 cm, ultimate lobes to 1.5 mm wide, margins entire, apices acute (indurate).
Peduncles

10–20 cm.
Involucres

7–15 mm diam.
Ray corollas

white, pink, or purplish, laminae obovate to oblanceolate, 15–50 mm, apices ± truncate, dentate.
Disc corollas

5–7 mm.
Phyllaries

erect, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 7–13 mm, apices round or obtuse.
Calyculi

of spreading, linear to lanceolate bractlets 6–13 mm, apices acuminate.
Cypselae

7–16 mm, glabrous, papillose;

pappi 0, or of 2–3 ascending to erect awns 1–3 mm.
2n

= 24.

Cosmos bipinnatus
Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Disturbed sites, roadsides
Elevation 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WI; WV; WY; ON; QC; Mexico [Introduced in West Indies, Central America, South America, Asia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cosmos bipinnatus is native to Mexico and the southwestern United States. A garden favorite, it has escaped and naturalized widely elsewhere in the flora area (and in warm climates almost worldwide), and it has been seeded along roadsides by some highway departments. Many cultivated races and hybrids differ considerably from the wild type described above, varying widely in stature and in coloration of both ray and disc corollas. Some plants in cultivation lack pappi; they are referable to var. exaristatus de Candolle, not treated formally here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 204.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Coreopsidinae > Cosmos
Sibling taxa
C. caudatus, C. parviflorus, C. sulphureus
Name authority Cavanilles: Icon. 1: 10, plate 14. (1791)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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