Cosmos bipinnatus

Garden cosmos

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Garden cosmos is a naturalized perennial found in southern California coastal regions and cultivated areas in the California Floristic Province at elevations below 1,000 meters in disturbed places. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces white to pink or purple ray flowers with distinctive daisy-like heads up to 15 millimeters wide. Growing with upright stems 10 to 200 centimeters tall, it has a glabrous or slightly puberulent appearance. Its finely divided leaves have intricate, linear segments less than 1.5 millimeters wide, creating a delicate, feathery foliage. The fruit is black and 7 to 16 millimeters long with occasional short pappus awns.

Habitat: Uncommon escape from cultivation in disturbed places

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: SCo, cultivated and expected elsewhere in CA-FP

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.