Cosmos (plant)

Cosmos is a genus, with the same common name of cosmos, consisting of flowering plants in the sunflower family.

Description
Cosmos are herbaceous perennial plants or annual 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 varies noticeably between the different species. The genus includes several ornamental plants popular in gardens. Numerous hybrids and cultivars have been selected and named.

Species
Accepted species: • Cosmos atrosanguineus (Hook.) Voss

• Cosmos bipinnatus Cav.

• Cosmos carvifolius Benth.

• Cosmos caudatus Kunth

• Cosmos concolor Sherff

• Cosmos crithmifolius Kunth

• Cosmos dahlioides

• Cosmos deficiens (Sherff) Melchert

• Cosmos herzogii Sherff

• Cosmos intercedens Sherff

• Cosmos jaliscensis Sherff

• Cosmos juxtlahuacensis Panero & Villaseñor

• Cosmos landii Sherff

• Cosmos linearifolius (Sch.Bip.) Hemsl.

• Cosmos longipetiolatus Melchert

• Cosmos mattfeldii Sherff

• Cosmos mcvaughii Sherff

• Cosmos microcephalus Sherff

• Cosmos modestus Sherff

• Cosmos montanus Sherff

• Cosmos nelsonii B.L.Rob. & Fernald

• Cosmos nitidus Paray

• Cosmos ochroleucoflorus Melchert

• Cosmos pacificus Melchert

• Cosmos palmeri B.L.Rob.

• Cosmos parviflorus (Jacq.) Pers.

• Cosmos peucedanifolius Wedd.

• Cosmos pringlei B.L.Rob. & Fernald

• Cosmos purpurens Sherff

• Cosmos purpureus (DC.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex Hemsl.

• Cosmos scabiosoides Kunth

• Cosmos schaffneri Sherff

• Cosmos scherfii Melchert

• Cosmos sessilis Sherff

• Cosmos sherffii Melchert

• Cosmos steenisiae Veldkamp

• Cosmos sulphureus Cav.

Distribution
Cosmos species are native to scrub and meadowland in Mexico where most of the species occur. In the United States, some varieties may be found as far north as the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, but the range also extends through Central America to South America as far south as Paraguay. One species, C. bipinnatus, is naturalized across much of the eastern United States and eastern Canada.

It is also widespread over the high eastern plains of South Africa, where it was introduced via contaminated horsefeed during the Anglo-Boer War.