African or French marigold

Tagetes patula Linnaeus; T. tenuifolia Cavanilles

Annuals, 10–120+ cm. Leaf blades 30–120(–250+) mm overall, principal lobes/leaflets 9–25, lanceolate to lance-linear, 15–25(–45+) × 3–8(–12+) mm. Heads borne ± singly. Peduncles 30–100(–150+) mm. Involucres 10–22+ × (3–)5–12+ mm. Ray florets (3–)5–8+ (to 100+ in "double" cultivars); laminae yellow to orange, red-brown (sometimes particolored: yellow/red-brown), or white (some cultivars), ± flabellate to oval-quadrate, (2–)12–18(–25+) mm. Disc florets (10–)50–120+; corollas 7–12+ mm. Cypselae 6–11 mm; pappi of 0–2, ± subulate-aristate scales 6–12+ mm plus 2–4 distinct or connate, linear-oblong, ± erose scales 2–6+ mm. 2n = 24, 48.

Flowering ± year round. Disturbed sites; 0–1000+ m; Ala., Ark., Calif., Conn., Fla., Ill., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mo., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Utah, Vt., Va., Wis., Wyo.; Mexico.

Cultivars of Tagetes erecta are widely grown in gardens and, commercially, for cut flowers. They often persist after abandoned plantings. Tetraploid plants (2n = 48) with smaller involucres and wholly or partially red-brown corollas included here in T. erecta have been called T. patula by some botanists.