Plants 30–250 cm, glabrous or sparsely hispid. Leaves: petioles 1–7 cm; blades 10–20 cm, ultimate lobes 2–10 mm wide, margins spinulose-ciliate, apices acute, often mucronulate. Peduncles 10–30 cm. Calyculi of usually spreading, linear-subulate bractlets 6–10 mm, apices acuminate. Involucres 5–15 mm diam. Phyllaries erect, oblong-lanceolate, 7–11 mm, apices acute to obtuse. Ray corollas rose-pink to purple, laminae oblong-oblanceolate, 5–15 mm, apices obtusely 3-lobed. Disc corollas 5–6 mm. Cypselae 12–35 mm, glabrous or scabridulous proximally, setose distally; pappi of 2–3 widely divergent to reflexed awns 3–5 mm. 2n = 48.

Flowering summer–fall. Disturbed sites; 0–10 m; introduced; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America; also introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands.

Within the flora area, Cosmos caudatus is found only in the Florida Keys.

SELECTED REFERENCE

Melchert, T. E. 1990. Cosmos caudatus (Asteraceae: Coreopsideae) in Mexico: A cytotaxonomic reappraisal. Phytologia 69: 200–215.