page_title: Cosmos bipinnatus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Cosmos bipinnatus / Description
caption_attribution_description: Cosmea
context_page_description: Cosmos bipinnatus, commonly called the garden cosmos or Mexican aster, is a medium-sized flowering herbaceous plant native to the Americas. The species and its varieties and cultivars are popular as an ornamental plant in temperate climate gardens.
context_section_description: Cosmos bipinnatus is considered a half-hardy annual, although plants may reappear via self-sowing for several years. The plant height varies from 2–4 ft (0.61–1.22 m). The cultivated varieties appear in shades of pink and purple as well as white. The branched stem is usually densely to occasionally occupied by fine, split up, rough trichomes, some specimens are completely hairless. The petiole itself is inconspicuous, winged, 10 (rarely to 15) mm long, sometimes the leaves are almost sessile. 
  The partial leaves are linear-filiform to narrow linear with a width of 0.5 to 1 (rarely to 1.7) mm; the tips are pointed, hardened, but not particularly sharp. Its foliage is finely cut into threadlike segments.  When flowering, the plant can become top heavy.  This problem is alleviated when grown in groups, as the bipinnate leaves interlock, and the colony supports itself.
  The achenes become blackish, are smooth or short-bristly. Their shape is spindle-like. They are rounded off into a short, 0.5 to 1.7 mm long, but distinctly pronounced rostrum. The inner achenes are up to 18 mm long, their yellowish beaks are 4 to 5 (rarely to 10) mm long. A pappus is missing or it consists only of two to three awn-like, 1 to 3 mm large bristles.
caption: In natural habitat.
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE Z710 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "514", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9032", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4633", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Portrait Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:08:24 18:06:31", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:08:24 18:06:31", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3072", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8728", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "64", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}