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biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Genus: Cosmos

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Eudicotyledons > Core Eudicots > Asterids > Euasterid II > Family: Asteraceae > Tribe: Heliantheae

The 26 species are native to tropical and warm regions of America. Three species have become weeds in southern Africa.

Species naturalised in southern Africa

List from Plants of Southern Africa - an Online Checklist (SANBI).

Cosmos bipinnatus

 

 Cosmos formosa (Cosmos)

[= Bidens bipinnata]

Kosmos, Mieliepes [Afrikaans]

Originates from Central America and the West Indies. Flowers can be white, pink and red. Widespread as a weed on cultivated lands and along roadsides in South Africa. See KwaZulu-Natal wild flowers by Elsa Pooley p. 444; Wild Flowers of the Highveld by Braam van Wyk and Sasa Malan pp. 40, 192.

Cosmos sulphureus