Cockscomb

Cockscomb (Celosia cristata), an East-Indian annual of the order Amarantaceæ, familiar in conservatories, often also planted out in warm borders, especially in the southern parts of Britain. It grows with an upright stem, which becomes flattened upwards, divides, expands, and forms a sort of wavy crest, covered with pointed bracts, and bearing on its surface many very small abortive flowers, so crowded as often to present a rich velvety appearance. The colours are various, and often very brilliant. In the wild species, however, the flowers are of ordinary type, and in simple spikes and panicles; while in the so-called C. aurea, a golden variety formerly much cultivated, only a few flowers of the base of the inflorescence are perfect, the other being represented only by bracts and scales; while in the cockscomb proper the monstrosity known as Fasciation (q.v.) has further taken place.