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The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

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Celosia L.

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 2:205 (1753)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Family Amaranthaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs. Annual, or perennial; plants with neither basal nor terminal concentrations of leaves. Self supporting, or climbing (occasionally). Leaves alternate; ‘herbaceous’; simple. Leaf blades entire, or dissected (somewhat lobed); pinnately veined. Leaves without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire. Domatia recorded. Stem anatomy. Nodes unilacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring, or anomalous.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes, or in spikes, or in panicles. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Flowers bracteate. Bracts persistent. Flowers bracteolate. Bracteoles persistent. Flowers regular; cyclic; tricyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk absent. Perianth sepaline; 5; non-fleshy; persistent; accrescent, or non-accrescent. Calyx present; 5; polysepalous; imbricate; regular; persistent; accrescent, or non-accrescent. The fruiting calyx not berrylike. Calyx with the median member posterior. Corolla absent. Androecium 5. Androecial sequence not determinable. Androecial members free of the perianth; all equal; coherent; 1 - adelphous (the filaments basally connate forming a short sheath); 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5; oppositisepalous. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; bilocular. Pollen shed as single grains. Gynoecium 2–3 carpelled. The pistil 1 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious; superior. Ovary unilocular; 1 locular. Gynoecium non-stylate to stylate. Styles 1. Stigmas 2–3; dry type; papillate; Group II type. Placentation basal. Ovules in the single cavity (1–)5–8(–11); non-arillate; campylotropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule; without fleshy investment. Capsules circumscissile. Seeds roundish; non-endospermic (strictly speaking). Perisperm present (abundant, mealy). Seeds with starch. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2.