Космея

The genus

The genus is also called simply cosmos and counts 35 accepted species. The generic name derives either from the Greek for '(ordered) world', in reference to the neat, orderly arrangement of the floral structures, or from the Greek for 'jewel', in reference to the jewel-like colors of the composite flowers. Cosmos plants are herbaceous perennials or annuals growing 0.3-2 metres tall. The flowers are produced in a capitulum with a ring of broad ray florets and a center of disc florets.

Cosmos species are native to scrub and meadowland in the Americas, from Colorado and Missouri in the United States south through Mexico and Central America to South America as far south as northern Argentina. Mexico has the highest species diversity, with 33 of the 35 species.

Chocolate cosmos

Cosmos atrosanguineus, the chocolate cosmos, is a species of Cosmos native to Mexico. It is a herbaceous perennial growing to 40-60 cm tall, with a fleshy tuberous root. The flowers are borne in a capitulum 3-4.5 cm in diameter, dark red to maroon-dark brown, with a ring of six to ten (usually eight) broad ray florets. In the species name, atro means dark and sanguineus means blood-red.

It gets its common name from producing a fragrant chemical constituent of vanilla, and chocolate often has vanilla added to it. Flower colour in the species and its cultivars, from red to black, results from variation in the amounts of anthocyanins and chalcone. Hybrids with other Cosmos species are known in cultivation, and hybrids may be less scented than the species. Although cosmos smells like chocolate, it should not be eaten.

Field work showed that it grew in the states of Guanajuato, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí. It is found in mixed pine and oak forest at elevations of around 1,800-2,450 m.

Garden cosmos and sulfur cosmos

Cosmos bipinnatus, commonly called the garden cosmos, Mexican aster or cosmea, is a medium-sized flowering herbaceous plant in the daisy family, native to the Americas. Its cultivated varieties appear in shades of pink and purple as well as white. It has naturalized in scattered locations across North America, South America, the West Indies, Italy, Australia and Asia.

Cosmos sulphureus, also known as sulfur cosmos and yellow cosmos, is native to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. The original and its cultivars appear in shades of yellow, orange and red. Its flowers produce an orange-yellow dye, used in pre-Columbian America and later in southern Africa to dye wool. The Sundanese of west Java in Indonesia eat its young shoots raw or cooked as a kind of lalab. The flowers of all Cosmos attract birds and butterflies, including the monarch butterfly.

Vanillin

Vanillin has the formula C₈H₈O₃. Vanillin is most prominent as the principal flavor and aroma compound in vanilla.

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Related: Abelia · Almond Blossom · Alpha Terpineol · Alstroemeria · Alumroot · Amarillys · Amazon Moonflower · Amethyst Flower