West Indian Cock's Comb

Celosia nitida Vahl, Symb. Bot. 3: 44. 1794
Lestibudesia paniculata R. Br. Prodr. 414. 1810. Not Celosia paniculata L> 1753. Lophoxera paniculata Raf. Fl. Tell. 3: 42. 1837. Gonufas paniculata Raf. Sylva Tell. 124. 1838. Celosia texana Scheele, Linnaea 22: 148. 1849.
Stems slender, erect or clambering over shrubs, 3-15 dm. long, fruticose at the base, or sometimes herbaceous throughout, glabrous, green or glaucescent, smooth or striate; petioles
slender, 0.5-2 cm. long, not margined; leaf -blades deltoid to ovate, rhombic-ovate, or triangularlanceolate, usually asymmetric, 2-7 cm. long, 1-4 cm. wide, obtuse to acuminate at the apex, obtuse, truncate, or somewhat oblique at the base, slightly decurrent, deep-green, glabrous, often lustrous, prominently nerved beneath, with small, asymmetric, often falcate leaves frequently present in the axils; flowers in loose terminal or axillary panicles composed of few loosely flowered, sessile or pedunculate spikes 1-4 cm. long and 7-10 mm. thick; bracts roundedovate, about one fourth as long as the sepals, obtuse or acutish, carinate, often ciliolate; sepals 5 mm. long, oblong or oval, acute or acutish, mucronulate, firm, dark-brown or yellowish, prominently and finely parallel-nerved; stamens equaling the ovary; style stout, 1 mm. long or less, longer than the 3 stout stigmas; utricle ovoid, equaling or shorter than the sepals; seeds numerous, about 20, 1 mm. in diameter, smooth or obscurely punctulate, black and lustrous.
Type locality: West Indies.
Distribution: Florida keys; southwestern Texas to northeastern Mexico; Yucatan; general in the West Indies; also on the northern coast of South America.