Cosmos sulphureus

Sulphur cosmos

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Sulphur cosmos is a naturalized annual found in southern California and potentially elsewhere in the California Floristic Province, occurring in disturbed places at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from August to October, this plant produces vibrant yellow to red-orange flowers with ray petals 2 to 3 centimeters long in distinctive heads. Growing with stiffly hairy stems reaching 3 to 21 decimeters tall, it develops an open, branching structure. Its deeply divided leaves are petioled with intricate blades 5 to 12 centimeters long, segmented into narrow linear to lanceolate leaflets 2 to 5 millimeters wide. The flower heads feature an involucre 6 to 10 millimeters in diameter with distinctive linear outer phyllaries.

Habitat: Uncommon escape from cultivation in disturbed places

Bloom period: Aug-Oct

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.