West Indian Cock's Comb

Celosia nitida is widespread in subtropical regions of the New World. In Florida, it occurs mostly in the Keys north to Dade, Lake, Lee, and Monroe counties; in Texas it is known from the south Texas plains, gulf prairies and marshes, and barely into the Edwards Plateau.

Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 0.3-2 m, glabrous; rootstock elongate, woody. Stems erect or clambering, branched from rootstock. Leaves: petiole 0.5-2 cm; blade unlobed, deltate, ovate, rhombic, to triangular-lanceolate, 3-7 × 1-4 cm, base abruptly narrowed, truncate, or oblique, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences lax panicles of few terminal or axillary spikes, units less than 10 mm diam. Flowers: tepals greenish, greenish white, or pinkish green, striate, drying to tan, ± equal, 3.5-7 mm, rather rigid; style 1 mm; stigmas 3. Utricles 4-5 mm. Seeds to 20, 0.8-1 mm diam., faintly reticulate or smooth.

Fla., Tex.; Mexico; West Indies; South America.

Flowering fall-winter.

Coastal sand dunes, coppices, kitchen middens, hammocks, thickets, oak savannas, gravel slopes; 0-800m.

Celosia texana Scheele

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.

Celosia nitida (or Celosia texana) is commonly known as West Indian cock's comb. It is a native perennial in Texas and Florida, though in Florida, it is currently listed as an endangered species. It is also found in Central and South America. The plant can grow up to 2 m (6 feet) in height, and flowers in fall to winter.

Celosia nitida es una especie de planta herbácea perteneciente a la familia Amaranthaceae.

Celosia nitida là loài thực vật có hoa thuộc họ Dền. Loài này được Vahl mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1794.