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(Last Modified On 1/25/2013)
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(Last Modified On 1/25/2013)
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Genus
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CELOSIA L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. P1. 205. 1753.
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Synonym
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Amaranthus Adans. Fam. P1. 2:269. 1763. not L. 1753. Sukana Adans. loc. cit. 269. 1763. Lestibudesia Thouars, Hist. Veg. Illes Afr. 53. 1806. LophoxeraRaf. Fl. Tell. 3:42. 1837. Ganufas Raf. Sylva Tell. 124. 1838.
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Description
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Flowers perfect, the uppermost occa- sionally sterile, subsessile or short pedicel- late, unibracteate and bibracteolate. Sepals 5, discrete, hypogynous, concave, variously colored, not strongly ribbed. Petals absent. Stamens 5, hypogynous, connate less than half their length forming an appendiculate or exappendiculate tube shorter than the ovary; filaments flattened; anthers 4- locellate, introrse, medially attached. Ovary subglobose to ellipsoid, I -locular, multi-ovulate; o v u 1 e s campylotropous; funicles flattened, exarillate, with free P. central placentation; styles 1; stigmata 2- 3. Fruit a 2- to many-seeded circumscissile capsule; seeds cochleate-orbiculate, dark reddish brown to black, reticulate. Gla- brate or pubescent herbaceous of suffruti- cose perennials or annuals. Leaves alternate, entire, subsessile to petiolate, glabrous or pubescent, lanceolate to rhombic-elliptic, deciduous. Inflorescences of terminal and axillary panicles or spikes, with or without foliar leaves.
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Distribution
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A large genus of some fifty species, this seems to have reached its best development in subtropical regions of America, Africa and Asia. Only one species, the cultivated cockscomb, is so far reported from Panama.
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