Cockscomb or Celosia

(Amaranthaceae - Amaranth Family)

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• Form
  • small to large herbaceous annual
  • variable dimensions from 6" to 30" tall and 4" to 12" wide, depending upon type and cultivar
  • upright pyramidal growth habit

• Culture
  • full sun to partial sun
  • prefers moist, well-drained soils but is adaptable to poor or average soils, dry soils, heat, and drought
  • propagated by seeds
  • Amaranth Family, with few disease or pest problems
  • moderately available in flats and seed packets

• Foliage
  • alternate, spiraled, or clustered, depending upon leaf position on the stem
  • narrowly ovate, with acuminate apices and short petioles
  • foliage and stem color often reflect the floral color (for example, red-flowering forms may have reddish-bronzed foliage and stems)

• Flowers
  • solid colors of yellow, gold, orange, pink, or red in showy inflorescences that are large if they are at the apex of the plant, or smaller if they arise from the axillary shoots
  • individual flowers are long-lived, with an overall flowering period from June through frost
  • the two basic types of inflorescences are either spire-like plumes of flowers resembling an "annual Astilbe" (Plumosa Types), or Y-shaped, convoluted, flat-topped, and fasciated flowers resembling a "rooster's comb" or "brain coral" (Crested Types, or true Cockscomb Types)
• Fruits
  • ornamentally inconspicuous (hidden within the long-lived dried flowers)

• Twigs
  • stems are ribbed or heavily grooved

• Trunk
  • not applicable

• ID Summary
  • narrowly ovate foliage occurs in a generally spiraled fashion around ribbed stems, with long-lived inflorescences of two distinctive types: narrow-pyramidal (Plumosa Types) and curving flat-topped (Crested Types); in addition, stem and leaf color are often greenish-tinted echoes of the floral colors, which have a primarily warm color range

• Function
  • beds, borders, edgings, planters, cut flowers, or dried flowers

• Texture
  • medium to bold texture overall (inflorescences are fine-textured if they are of the Plumosa Type or bold-textured if they are the Crested Type, while the foliage is medium- to bold-textured)
  • average to open density

• Assets
  • very long bloom period for each showy inflorescence
  • inflorescences can serve as cut flowers or dried flowers
  • for the Plumosa Types, the inflorescences give a vertical orientation to the landscape, and can serve as a mass planting focal point
  • performs well in hot, humid climates

• Liabilities
  • for the Crested Types, the terminal inflorescence can become rather top-heavy and awkward-appearing by the end of the Summer

• Habitat
  • annual that dies with early frosts
  • native to Africa

• Alternates
  • perennials with spire-like inflorescences (Aruncus, Astilbe, etc.)
  • annuals whose inflorescences can be utilized in dried flower arrangements (Ammobium alatum, Gomphrena globosa, Gypsophila elegans, Helichrysum bracteatum, etc.)

• Variants
  • bred for floral color, floral type, foliage color, and mature height, the two types are:
    • Crested Type - stout stems support bold-textured, Y-shaped convoluted and feathery inflorescences, each resembling a rooster's (or cock's) comb, ranging from 6" to 24" in height, depending upon cultivar or series
    • Plumosa Type - feathery, fine-textured inflorescences are narrowly pyramidal (resembling church steeples) at the top of each lateral and terminal stem, ranging from 6" to 30" in height, depending upon cultivar or series

• Translation
  • Celosia translates as "burned", referring to the red-brown color of some inflorescences.

• Purpose
  • Cockscomb is an annual with a wide choice of solid-colored, bold-or fine-textured inflorescences, very useful in either annual beds or as cut or dried flowers.

• Summary
  • Celosia is known as an annual whose inflorescences resemble a long-flowering Astilbe (Plumosa Types) or a convoluted, wide-spreading rooster's comb (Crested Types), in solid colors with a long bloom period for each inflorescence.