Cockscomb Celosia cristata (Childsii)

LATIN NAME: Celosia cristata

COMMON NAME: Cockscomb

The cockscomb flaunts its dense, crested heads in the hot bed, and the small, tight flowers crowd the wavy crests. The upright, bushy, annual plant carries the oval, pointed, green leaves and the dense, crested, coral-red, crimson, orange or yellow flower heads, wavy and velvety at the top, through the warm season, one of the bold, curious sights of the hot bed, holding their colour for a long time. The flowers have a long record as the fine, lasting cut flowers of the warm gardens, and the plant is a fine, historic presence of the hot bed. It is a plant of the open, sunny, deep, moist, rich ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The cockscomb is a curious subject of the plant science, and the crested heads keep showing up in the work on the warm-season ornamentals. The way the dense, crested, wavy flower heads form at the top of the stems has been studied closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the warm-season ornamentals, the fasciation curiosities and the members of the amaranth family. The oval leaves and the bushy habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the cockscomb is a regular subject of the work on the crested heads of the warm world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The cockscomb is a fine, bold plant of the hot bed and the cut-flower patch. The dense, crested, coral-red, crimson, orange or yellow flower heads, wavy and velvety at the top, hold their colour through the warm season, one of the bold, curious sights of the hot bed, and the flowers come to the vases and the dried arrangements of the old tables, keeping the colour for a long time. The plant is one of the fine choices for the hot bed, the cut-flower patch and the study collection, and it has been written up in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the crested heads and the lasting ways. It is a fine, bold plant of the open, sunny, deep, moist, rich garden.

Give the young plants the warm, sunny spot, and the crested heads will come in the first warm season.

To grow the cockscomb from seed, scatter the tiny, black seeds across the surface of the damp tray, without covering them, keep the tray in a warm, bright spot and water gently, then set the young plants out after the last frosts. The seedlings come through within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun, the warmth and the deep, moist, rich ground, the crested heads will come through the warm season.

Medicinal

stopping hemorrhages and diarrhea. Also helps to clear vision.