Species
+

Cosmos caudatus Kunth

Clavelillo, Foxtail, Margarita, Piquete; Spanish needles

Climate known 72 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cosmos caudatus or king's salad is an annual plant in the genus Cosmos, bearing purple, pink, or white ray florets. It is native to Latin America, and the West Indies, though naturalized in tropical parts of Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cosmos caudatus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cosmos

The cosmos is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word cosmos implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cosmos”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
Kunth
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +18
Wild records
881 in range· 508 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Apr, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1837mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 239 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–38DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1837 mm a year, wettest September at 239 mm, driest March at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 16.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bidens artemisiaefolia subsp. caudata (Kunth) Kuntze; Bidens artemisiaefolia var. caudatus (Kunth) Kuntze; Bidens artemisiifolia f. rubra (Kuntze) Kuntze; Bidens artemisiifolia subsp. caudata (Kunth) Kuntze, 1891; Bidens artemisiifolia var. caudata (Kunth) Kuntze and 14 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1404 mm of 1837 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 1.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1837 mm a year, wettest September at 239 mm, driest March at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1837 mm a year at the habitat, 1404 mm of it May to November. Wettest month September at 239 mm, driest March at 60 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1128 mm to 3767 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 16.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 16.0 °C, the absolute minimum 13.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 14.0 °C to 23.3 °C), warmest day 28.6 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 16.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Dec to 29 °C in Apr; mean night from 19 °C in Jan to 21 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1837 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 714 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 13.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°35.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)13.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 29–38RH 62–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 714 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 23–3028 / 24–3028 / 25–3129 / 25–3228 / 24–3227 / 23–3127 / 23–3028 / 24–3128 / 23–3127 / 23–3027 / 23–3027 / 23–29
Night °C19 / 14–2320 / 14–2320 / 15–2321 / 16–2421 / 16–2421 / 15–2420 / 15–2420 / 15–2420 / 16–2420 / 16–2320 / 16–2320 / 15–23
Rain mm88 / 11–29571 / 9–24860 / 10–26984 / 26–268148 / 45–391235 / 26–417203 / 17–421217 / 18–438239 / 50–474196 / 84–468166 / 28–371130 / 13–310
DLI32 / 25–3734 / 29–3936 / 31–4238 / 28–4232 / 25–4130 / 23–3731 / 24–3833 / 27–3832 / 27–3831 / 26–3829 / 24–3730 / 24–36
RH %64 / 58–6963 / 57–6963 / 56–6962 / 57–6965 / 58–7167 / 59–7366 / 57–7366 / 55–7367 / 57–7367 / 59–7466 / 60–7366 / 59–71

Each figure is the median across the 714 grid cells holding the 845 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2140:2809 (-17.025, -39.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 13.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 714 distinct grid cells holding the 845 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2140:2809 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -17.00_-39.375, lapse-corrected -2 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 79 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast· introduced: Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Assam, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Philippines, Queensland, Fiji, Samoa, Florida, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Ecuador
Kew's description“annual” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker10.442, -84.668 · in the densest population, 355 records (40% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 881 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 508 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 570 km away. 542 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 36 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 881 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cosmos caudatusCosmos caudatusCosmos caudatusCosmos caudatusCosmos caudatusCosmos caudatusCosmos caudatusCosmos caudatus

Photographs: (c) Mario Barroso, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Carlos Otávio Gussoni, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Liliana Ramírez-Freire, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Aryan K, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jason Hill, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cosmos caudatus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Total Phenolic Compounds, Flavonoids, and Radical Scavenging Activity of 21 Selected Tropical Plants
Roheeyati Ashikin Mustafa, Azizah Abdul Hamid, Suhaila Mohamed, F. Abu Bakar (2009) · Journal of Food Science
Antioxidant activity of plants methanolic extracts containing phenolic compounds
Nur Huda Faujan, A. Noriham, AS Norrakiah, AS Babji (2009) · AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
Polyphenols, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid in underutilized medicinal vegetables
Nuri Andarwulan, Dewi Kurniasih, Riza Aris Apriady, Hardianzah Rahmat (2012) · Journal of Functional Foods
Antiviral and cytotoxic activities of some plants used in Malaysian indigenous medicine
Abdul Manaf Ali, Muhammad Mukram Mohamed Mackeen, Saleh El-Sharkawy, Junainah Abdul Hamid (1996) · Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository (Universiti Putra Malaysia)
1H-NMR-based metabolomics approach to understanding the drying effects on the phytochemicals in Cosmos caudatus
Ahmed Mediani, Faridah Abas, Alfi Khatib, M. Maulidiani (2012) · Food Research International
Anti-obesity and antioxidant activities of selected medicinal plants and phytochemical profiling of bioactive compounds
Hafeedza Abdul Rahman, Nazamid Saari, Faridah Abas, Amin Ismail (2016) · International Journal of Food Properties
GC‐MS‐Based Metabolite Profiling of Cosmos caudatus Leaves Possessing Alpha‐Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity
Neda Javadi, Faridah Abas, Azizah Abdul Hamid, Sanimah Simoh (2014) · Journal of Food Science
Anti-obesity effect of ethanolic extract from Cosmos caudatus Kunth leaf in lean rats fed a high fat diet
Hafeedza Abdul Rahman, Najla Gooda Sahib, Nazamid Saari, Faridah Abas (2017) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Antioxidant activities, flavonoids, ascorbic acid and phenolic content of Malaysian vegetables.
Yusuf Sumazian, Syahida Ahmad, Mansor Hakiman, Maziah Mahmood (2010) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Cosmos 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 95 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.