Tagetes patula Linnaeus; T. tenuifolia Cavanilles.

Annuals, 10-120 cm. Leaf blades 30-120(-250) mm overall, principal lobes/leaflets 9-25, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 15-25(-45) × 3-8(-12) mm. Capitula solitary; peduncles 30-100(-150) mm; involucres 10-22+ × (3-)5-12 mm; phyllaries 5-8. Ray florets (3-)5-8(-100 in "double" cultivars); lamina yellow to orange, red-brown (sometimes bi-colored: yellow/ red-brown), or white (some cultivars), flabellate to ovate-quadrate, (2-)12-18(-25) mm. Disk florets (10-)50-120; corollas 7-12 mm. Achenes 6-11 mm; pappus of 0-2 subulate-aristate scales 6-12 mm and 2-4 distinct or connate, linear-oblong, erose scales 2-6+ mm. Fl. Jun-Oct. 2n = 24, 48.

Cultivars of Tagetes erecta are widely grown in gardens and, commercially, for cut flowers. They often persist after plantings are abandoned. 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.

Widely cultivated in China [native to North America].