| from the November 7, 2010 Newsletter issued from
Hacienda Chichen Resort beside Chichén Itzá Ruins, central Yucatán, MÉXICO YELLOW COSMOS Two or three months ago when I had to visit Mérida several times with my visa problems -- I have an FM3 good until April now -- one day I was walking up the grand boulevard called Paseo de Montejo when I noticed pretty, orangish flowers planted in the green spaces between the two broad, one-way streets. The plants were fruiting so I filled a shirt pocket with some "seeds" -- technically indehiscent, one-seeded fruits called achenes. Back at the Hacienda I sowed them next to my hut, and now the plants are flowering, shown above. This is the Yellow Cosmos, COSMOS SULPHUREUS, native from Mexico to Brazil but planted worldwide, even in the Temperate Zone, where sometimes it escapes from gardens.
An important fieldmark for the genus Cosmos is that the achene-fruit is topped with a slender neck, or "beak." A broken-open flower with an achene beside it is shown below:
Not long ago we looked at a rosy-pink-flowered Cosmos, Cosmos caudatus, which also was planted at the Hacienda. You might enjoy comparing it, remembering to look at that species' "beaked achenes," at http://www.backyardnature.net/yucatan/cosmos.htm. On that page we report that Cosmos caudatus had edible leaves and that in parts of the world it's grown as a salad ingredient -- even though I found the leaves a bit strong. I read that our Yellow Cosmos also has edible leaves, so of course I've nibbled on them to see if they taste any better than the other. I find the Yellow Cosmos's leaves with a more interesting flavor, not quite as much like eating Marigold leaves as the other, but still a bit too pungent for my taste. If one has garden lettuce and Chaya leaves, which I do, there's no need to eat Cosmos leaves. |
Yellow Cosmos, which grows seven or more feet tall, is distinguished by its
yellow-orange flowers and ferny, twice- or thrice-pinnately compound leaves. A further
neat little fieldmark is that its pollen-producing anthers -- which are united by their
edges to form a cylinder around the style (normal for the Composite or Daisy Family) --
are black with orange tips, as seen here.