Open the bloom of your heart and become a gift of beauty to the world. – Bryant McGill, author.

The cockscomb plant is an addition to our garden this year.  The unusual inflorescence and large size of the flowers attract many visitors to our garden.

Ccockscomb (Celosia Cristata) of the Amaranth family (Amaranthaceae) and it comes from India. Amaranth family of plants include beets and quinoa.

The flower gets its name from its similarity to the cock’s comb on a rooster’s head.

Our friend of Portuguese origin gifted the cockscomb seeds last year and said, “These plants originated in India first introduced to Europe in the mid sixteenth century.”

“It could well be that Vasco-da-Gama took it from Kerala on his second return voyage in 1502!” I replied.

Cockscomb is also known as Dracula or Novelty Celosia. Flower head and plant reaching 12-16″ in height.

This bushy plant has dense, brain-like flowers with a woolen texture.  Thus, nicknamed wool flowers or brain celosia.

The flowers are used in traditional medicine to treat everything from headaches to menstrual cramps. 

The colours range from white and yellow to shades of orange, red, and purple. The flowers can be dried and used in floral arrangements.

Cockscomb plants produce simple oval leaves that are arranged alternately along the stem and often are borne on a reddish petiole (leafstalk).

The small flowers have colourful bracts and are densely arranged in showy inflorescences.

The flowers are tiny and hermaphrodite (Hermaphroditic plants have male and female reproductive organs within the same flower), and are packed in narrow, pyramidal, plume-like heads 10–25 cm long with vivid colors including shades of orange, red, purple, yellow and cream.

The garden reconciles human art and wild nature, hard work and deep pleasure, spiritual practice and the material world. It is a magical place because it is not divided. —Thomas Moore, writer, poet, and lyricist