Cosmos sulphureus

C. sulphureus is an annual herb 0.3-2 m tall, taprooted. Stems erect, branched, glabrous or sparsely pilose to hispid. Leaves cauline, alternate, deeply lobed;petioles 10-70 mm long;blades 50-250 mm long;ultimate lobes 2-5 mm wide;margins sparsely spinulose-ciliate;apices apiculate. Synflorescences 100-200 mm long, spreading-ascending;bractlets linear-subulate 5-10 mm long with acute apices. Capitula 6-10 mm diameter;involucral bracts erect, oblong-lanceolate, 9-18 mm long with acute to rounded-obtuse apices;ray florets 8(+ in some cultivars) golden yellow to red-orange;laminae obovate, 18-30 mm long with truncate, denticulate apices;disc florets 6-7 mm long. Cypselae light brown, flattened, 1.5-3 mm long, hispidulous, rarely glabrous;pappus absent, or with two or three widely divergent awns, 1-7 mm long (description compiled from Beentje and Hind, 2005;Kiger, 2006;Chen and Hind, 2011;C Puttock, Smithsonian Institution, USA, personal observation).