Celosia
Sp. Pl. 1: 205. 1753.
Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 96. 1754.
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.
Distribution
Primarily tropical, subtropical Americas, Asia, and Africa.
Discussion
Species ca. 65 (5 in the flora).
Selected References
Lower Taxa
Key
| 1 | Styles 3-4 mm; inflorescences dense, cylindric, 13-20 mm diam. spikes, or fasciated, crested or plumose | > 2 |
| 1 | Styles 0.2-1 mm; inflorescences lax spikes or panicles, units less than 10 mm diam | > 3 |
| 2 | Inflorescences cylindric or ovoid spikes; tepals silvery white or pinkish | Celosia argentea |
| 2 | Inflorescences fasciated, crested, or plumose; tepals pink, red, yellow, purple, or white | Celosia cristata |
| 3 | Plants annual herbs; tepals silvery, whitish, or tannish, 1-veined, 2-3 mm | Celosia trigyna |
| 3 | 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 | > 4 |
| 4 | Leaf blades deltate to triangular-lanceolate, not lobed; stigmas 3. | Celosia nitida |
| 4 | Leaf blades moderately hastate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate; stigmas 2. | Celosia palmeri |