Species
+

Cosmos sulphureus Cav.

Cosmos (EN), Orange cosmos, Panchita (ES), Poppy

Climate known 54 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 sulphureus is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family Asteraceae, also known as sulfur cosmos and yellow cosmos. It is native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, and naturalized in other parts of North and South America as well as in Europe, Asia, and Australia. It was introduced into Asia from Mexico via the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cosmos sulphureus”, 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
Cav.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +9
Wild records
439 in range· 168 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
May, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1095mm/yr
8 wet months · peak Jul 225 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–46DLI
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 summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1095 mm a year, wettest July at 225 mm, driest March at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 9.0 °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 (Jacq.) Kuntze; Bidens artemisiaefolia f. grandiflora Kuntze; Bidens artemisiaefolia f. parviflora Kuntze; Bidens artemisiaefolia f. rubra Kuntze; Bidens artemisiaefolia subsp. intermedia Kuntze and 22 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (812 mm of 1095 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.4 °C against a yearly mean of 21.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

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 1095 mm a year, wettest July at 225 mm, driest March at 11 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1095 mm a year at the habitat, 812 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 225 mm, driest March at 11 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 748 mm to 2858 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 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 46 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 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

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 9.0 °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 9.0 °C, the absolute minimum 5.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 11.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells 5.9 °C to 19.6 °C), warmest day 29.6 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.0 °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: 53 to 66% 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 24 °C in Jan to 30 °C in May; mean night from 12 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1095 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 358 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 5.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 37.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°37.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)5.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 29–46RH 53–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 358 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 °C24 / 17–2926 / 19–2928 / 22–3129 / 26–3330 / 26–3429 / 24–3328 / 23–3428 / 24–3427 / 23–3126 / 23–3025 / 21–2924 / 17–28
Night °C12 / 6–2012 / 7–2013 / 10–2115 / 12–2318 / 14–2419 / 15–2419 / 15–2419 / 15–2419 / 14–2417 / 13–2314 / 10–2213 / 7–20
Rain mm28 / 9–8115 / 7–6311 / 3–7219 / 3–9466 / 8–318180 / 93–368225 / 67–372212 / 54–376195 / 80–40198 / 46–40827 / 10–27419 / 5–162
DLI31 / 19–3437 / 24–3943 / 29–4546 / 35–4944 / 31–5038 / 30–4337 / 30–4337 / 30–4133 / 29–3632 / 26–3531 / 20–3429 / 18–32
RH %56 / 48–6455 / 47–6353 / 44–6253 / 43–6356 / 46–6862 / 56–7164 / 57–7165 / 55–7166 / 57–7262 / 56–7158 / 51–6957 / 49–67

Each figure is the median across the 358 grid cells holding the 432 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 1423:1613 (18.825, -99.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.5 °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 358 distinct grid cells holding the 432 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1423:1613 (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 19.00_-99.375, lapse-corrected -734 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1334 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, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama· introduced: Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, South European Russia, Benin, Guinea, Central African Republic, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, KwaZulu-Natal, Mauritius, Réunion, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Iraq, Korea, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Andaman Is., Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Philippines, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Fiji, Niue, New Caledonia, Society Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Paraguay
Kew's description“annual” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker20.724, -103.506 · in the densest population, 149 records (34% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 439 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 168 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 1458 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 7 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 2° block of the 439 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cosmos sulphureusCosmos sulphureusCosmos sulphureusCosmos sulphureusCosmos sulphureusCosmos sulphureusCosmos sulphureusCosmos sulphureus

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (6); (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) carlos henrique almeida duprat (Henrique trilhas), some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

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 sulphureus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Plants used traditionally to treat malaria in Brazil: the archives of Flora Medicinal
Alexandros S. Botsaris (2007) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Anthochlor Pigments of Cosmos sulphureus, Coreopsis lanceolata and C. saxicola
Masami Shimokoriyama, Shizuo Hattori (1953) · Journal of the American Chemical Society
Deep eutectic solvent-based ultrasound-assisted extraction of polyphenols from Cosmos sulphureus
Xingyu Liu, Hong Ou, Hans Gregersen, Jing Zuo (2022) · Journal of Applied Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
Cosmos sulphureus Cav. is more tolerant to lead than copper and chromium in hydroponics system
Nashra Aftab, Kanza Saleem, Aqib Hassan Ali Khan, Tayyab Ashfaq Butt (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
Chemical characterisation and hepatoprotective potential of Cosmos sulphureus Cav. and Cosmos bipinnatus Cav.
Mohammad Saleem, Hafiz Akbar Ali, Muhammad Furqan Akhtar, Uzma Saleem (2017) · Natural Product Research
Cloning, functional expression, and characterization of a chalcone 3-hydroxylase from Cosmos sulphureus
Karin Schlangen, Silvija Miosic, Jana Thill, Heidi Halbwirth (2010) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Advanced spectroscopic approach for exploring the structural, optical, and electronic properties in dye-functionalized chitosan biopolymers
Dyari Mustafa Mamand, Bahez Y. Ahmed, Dara M. Aziz, Peshawa O. Hama (2024) · Spectrochimica Acta Part A Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy
Screening of potential hyperaccumulator for cadmium from contaminated soil
Nonglak Rungruang, Sandhya Babel, Preeda Parkpian (2011) · Desalination and Water Treatment
Anthochlor Pigments. III. The Pigments of Cosmos Sulphureus
T. A. Geissman (1942) · Journal of the American Chemical Society

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 119 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.