Garden cosmos
ಕಾಸ್ಮಾಸ್কসমস
Cosmos bipinnatus Cav.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Little
- tall
- 91 cm
- wide
- 57 cm
Asteraceae
Also called Mexican aster, Annual cosmos, Cosmos
Formerly Bidens formosa, Bidens lindleyi, Coreopsis formosa, Cosmea bipinnata, and 6 more
When it flowers
Flowers April and September to December in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- AnnualKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- MexicoKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Height
- 61 cm to 1.2 mRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Spread
- 46 cm to 69 cmRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension 2–3 ft; Wikipedia 12–18 in
- Water
- Little: takes droughtRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, not yet checked: its sources are splitTied: no reading has a majority of the 2 sources, so all are kept for a person to settle. Sources differ: NC State Extension low; Wikipedia medium
- Flowers
- White, pink, purpleRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension pink, purple, white, yellow; Wikipedia pink, purple, violet, white
Not known yet: coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
ElderFlowers January to March and May to August, when this does not
Memorial RoseFlowers January to March and May to August, when this does not
PurslaneFlowers January to March and May to August, when this does not
Tree RhododendronFlowers January to March and May to August, when this does not
Japanese honeysuckleFlowers January to March and May to July, when this does not
PomegranateFlowers January to February and May to August, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Girasol morado, Cambray
- root
- huaabe, sharacamata, Xococtole
- Chinese
- 波斯菊, 大波斯菊, 榛子花
- Portuguese
- Cosmos
- Czech
- krásenka zpeřená
- German
- Schmuckkörbchen
- Korean
- 코스모스
- Russian
- Космея дваждыперистая
- Norwegian Bokmål
- pyntekurv
- Japanese
- オオハルシャギク, コスモス
- Finnish
- punakosmos
- Polish
- Kosmos podwójnie pierzasty, Kosmos pierzasty, Onętek pierzasty
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Cosmos bipinnatus (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.