Celosia argentea

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Celosia argentea

Description

Annual herb to 1(-2) m, often smaller, sometimes woody at base, glabrous; stems ascending, simple or branched, longitudinally angled. Petiole 0.1-7.0 cm long; blade linear-lanceolate, lance-ovate, lance-elliptic, lanceolate or linear, 2-20 x 0.1-6.0 cm, obtuse to acuminate, sometimes mucronulate, decurrent on petiole. Inflorescence of terminal and upper leaf-axils, densely flowered, up to 12 cm long pedunculate spikes of 2.5-30.0 x 0.7-2.4 cm; bract chaffy, linear, lanceolate or ovate, 2-7 mm long; bracteoles ovate-lanceolate, hyaline, subequal, shorter than bracts; pedicels less than 1 mm long; uppermost flowers occasionally sterile. Tepals lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, 5-11 mm long, acute, scarious-translucent, silvery white to pink, 2- to 5-veined in middle, margin hyaline; stamens cream or pinkish, 3-5 mm long, free filaments longer than fused staminal cup; ovules (1-)3-9, style filiform, 4-8 mm long, stigmas subcapitate, 2- or 3-lobed at apex. Capsule pyriform, ovoid or subglobose, 3-5 mm long; seeds cochleate-orbicular, lenticular, 1.2-2.0 mm wide, black or dark reddish-brown, shining, minutely reticulate or nearly smooth.

Distribution

Asia present, Asia-Tropical: India, Guianas present, Pacific islands present, tropical Africa present
Tropical Africa, Asia and Pacific islands (possibly originally native to India, fide Robertson, 1981); a wild (non-horticultural) octoploid plant, f. argentea is adventive and naturalized as a weed in disturbed tropical and subtropical sites outside its natural range, including in the Guianas; 3 specimens seen, all from the Guianas (GU: 1; SU: 2).

Notes

The tetraploid, fasciated "cockscomb" form of this species, with the apical portion of the inflorescence modified in a bifacially flattened, convoluted, fan-like crest resembling a rooster's comb, is referable to Celosia ‘Cristata’, and individual plants may have flowers with all red, magenta, orange or yellow tepals. It is cultivated as an ornamental in the Guianas, exemplified by Guyana where observed near Turkeyen (DeFilipps, 1992), Suriname where it is called "hanekam" (Ostendorf, 1962); and French Guiana where grown by the Hmongs (Hoff et al. 6281).
Celosia argentea ‘Plumosa’, the "plume celosia", which bears a colorful diffuse, feathery, plume-like (but non-fasciated) inflorescence, is grown as an ornamental in Suriname (Ostendorf, 1962).