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1. Celosia Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 205. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 96. 1754.
Cockscomb [Greek keleos, burning, alluding to color and/or appearance of the inflorescence of C. cristata]
Kenneth R. Robertson
Herbs or subshrubs, annual or perennial. Stems erect or clambering-straggling. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blade mostly lanceolate, ovate, or deltate. Inflorescences terminal and often axillary spikes or panicles, often fasciated in cultivated forms, many-flowered. Flowers bisexual; tepals 3-5, distinct, membranous or scarious, usually glabrous; filaments connate basally into cups; anthers 4-locular; pseudostaminodes absent; ovules 3-many; style persistent, 0.2-4 mm; stigmas 2-3, capitate or subulate. Utricles ovoid, membranaceous, dehiscence centrally circumscissile. Seeds (2-)3-many, black, flattened. x = 9.
Species ca. 65 (5 in the flora): primarily tropical, subtropical Americas, Asia, and Africa.
SELECTED REFERENCES Grant, W. F. 1961. Speciation and basic chromosome number in the genus Celosia. Canad. J. Bot. 39: 45-50. Grant, W. F. 1962. Speciation and nomenclature in the genus Celosia. Canad. J. Bot. 40: 1355-1363.
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| 1 |
Styles 3-4 mm; inflorescences dense, cylindric, 13-20 mm diam. spikes, or fasciated, crested or plumose |
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(2) |
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Styles 0.2-1 mm; inflorescences lax spikes or panicles, units less than 10 mm diam |
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(3) |
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| 2 (1) |
Inflorescences cylindric or ovoid spikes; tepals silvery white or pinkish |
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4 Celosia argentea |
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Inflorescences fasciated, crested, or plumose; tepals pink, red, yellow, purple, or white |
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5 Celosia cristata |
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| 3 (1) |
Plants annual herbs; tepals silvery, whitish, or tannish, 1-veined, 2-3 mm |
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3 Celosia trigyna |
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Plants perennial herbs, subshrubs , or shrubs; tepals green, greenish white, pinkish green, or white with reddish base, drying tan, striate, 3.5-6(-7) mm |
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(4) |
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| 4 (3) |
Leaf blades deltate to triangular-lanceolate, not lobed; stigmas 3. |
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1 Celosia nitida |
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Leaf blades moderately hastate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate; stigmas 2. |
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2 Celosia palmeri |
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Lower Taxa
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