Cockscomb

Celosia argentea ‘Bombay Pink’

Synonyms:

Celosia cristata

Celosia argentea var. cristata 

BY

Pan American Seed

se-LO-see-uh  ar-JEN-tee-uh  kris-TAY-tuh

Synonyms of Celosia argentea (33) (Updated on 1-12-21): Amaranthus cristatus (L.) Noronha, Amaranthus huttonii H.J.Veitch, Amaranthus pyramidalis Noronha, Celosia argentea var. cristata (L.) Kuntze, Celosia argentea f. cristata (L.) Schinz, Celosia argentea var. margaritacea (L.) Iamonico, Celosia argentea var. mumbaiana M.R.Almeida, Celosia aurea T.Moore, Celosia castrensis L., Celosia cernua Roxb., Celosia cernua Andrews, Celosia coccinea L., Celosia comosa Retz., Celosia cristata L., Celosia cristata var. castrensis (L.) Iamonico, Celosia debilis S.Moore, Celosia huttonii Mast., Celosia japonica Houtt., Celosia japonica Mart., Celosia linearis Sweet ex Hook.f., Celosia margaritacea L., Celosia marylandica Retz., Celosia pallida Salisb., Celosia plumosa Barr & Sugden, Celosia purpurea J.St.-Hil., Celosia pyramidalis Burm.f., Celosia splendens Schumach. & Thonn., Celosia stricta Hornem., Celosia swinhoei Hemsl., Chamissoa margaritacea (L.) Schouw, Chamissoa stricta (Hornem.) Schouw, Lophoxera comosa (Retz.) Raf., Lophoxera racemosa Raf.

Celosia argentea L. is apparently the correct and accepted scientific name for the Cockscomb. The genus and species were both named and described as such by Carl von Linnaeus in the first edition of Species Plantarum in 1753.

Celosia cristata L., now a synonym, was also named and described as such by Carl von Linnaeus in the same edition of Species Plantarum in 1753. 

Also a synonym, Celosia argentea var. cristata (L.) Kuntze was first named and described as such by Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze in Revisio Generum Plantarum in 1891. It is also considered a synonym but I use the name anyway because it is the variety of Celosia argentea, currently accepted or not. That is OK since the name was validly published… 

Plants of the World Oline by Kew lists 47 species in the Celosia genus (as of 1-13-21 when I am updating this page. It is a member of the plant family Amaranthaceae with 186 genera. Those numbers could change as updates are made.

Formerly, crested or cockscomb Celosia was Celosia cristata, then the name was changed to Celosia argentea var. cristata. Now, it appears those names are synonyms of Celosia argentea and the crested forms are in the Cristata Group… There is a lot of disagreement, so maybe someday the name will change back to Celosia cristata or Celosia argentea var. cristata. Time will tell.

Wikipedia had information on Celosia, Celosia argentea, Celosia cristata, and Celosia argentea var cristata. Take your pick… All were updated in 2018. Oh yeah… they want to “merge” the last two. By the time you read this, the Wikipedia pages may be entirely different.

I changed the captions somewhat using parenthesis around “syn. var. cristata”. It “was” a validly published name even though it is currently a synonym…

THERE ARE A FEW LINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR FURTHER READING.

I bought seed of the Celosia ‘Bombay Pink’ from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in the spring of 2012. Now, I am not a pink person, but the photo of the flowers looked pretty neat, so I decided to give them a shot.

The seeds germinated OK but not great. But, I did take a few photos during their growth…

I thought it was pretty weird that they started out yellow, not pink. For a while, I thought something was screwy.

FINALLY, a hint of pink starts showing up but the flowers looked weird…

Now, folks, you know what they say? A photo is worth a thousand words… SO, what do the above photos tell you? I looked on Johnny’s website when I was writing this page, but it seems they aren’t offering this Celosia cultivar now. SO, I will share with you what the PanAmerican Seed Company says on their website.

Scientific Name: Celosia argentea

Common Name: Cockscomb

Blooming Season: Spring, Summer

Plant Habit: Upright

Height: 28 – 40″ (71 – 102cm)

Exposure: Partial Sun 

 

There, see! That photo from PanAmerican would make anyone drool!

I must say that I am not a pink person, but when I saw the photo of this flower I wanted to try them out. The plants grew fine but the flowers they produced were very disappointing. Maybe you have tried them out and had better luck.

I hope you enjoyed this page and maybe found it useful (perhaps entertaining). If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, I would like to hear from you. Please click on “like” if you visited this page. It helps us bloggers stay motivated. 🙂 You can check out the links below for further reading. The links take you directly to the genus and species of this plant. If you notice I made an error, please let me know.

FOR FURTHER READING:
PLANTS OF THE WORLD ONLINE (GENUS/SPECIES)
WIKIPEDIA (GENUS/SPECIES)
DAVE’S GARDEN
PANAMERICAN SEED

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN