Celosia argentea – Silver Cockscomb

Nectar Plant

Borbo cinnara – Rice Swift
Tagiades litigiosa – Water Snow Flat
Caleta decidia – Angled Pierrot
Castalius rosimon – Common Pierrot
Chilades pandava – Plains Cupid
Euchrysops cnejus – Gram Blue
Jamides celeno – Common Cerulean
Lampides boeticus – Pea Blue
Leptotes plinius – Zebra Blue
Cigaritis lohita – Long-banded Silverline
Cigaritis vulcanus – Common Silverline
Acraea terpsicore – Tawny Coster
Danaus chrysippus – Plain Tiger
Danaus genutia – Striped Tiger
Euploea core – Common Crow
Parantica aglea – Glassy Tiger

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Other notes

Varieties:

  1. Celosia argentea var. argentea: Silver Cockscomb (wild and cultivated).
  2. Celosia argentea var. cristata: Crested Cockscomb (cultivated).
  3. Celosia argentea var. plumosa: Plumed Cockscomb (cultivated).
     

Natural History: An annual, erect herb, native to tropical Africa and now naturalized throughout India. It is one of the common weeds of agricultural land as well as plateau grasslands. The white-pink spike flowers begin to bloom at the end of the rainy season. These flowers attract many butterflies.
It is called Kurdu in Marathi, Anne Soppu in Kannada and Pannai Keerai in Tamil. Its young leaves are consumed as leafy vegetable.
There are many garden varieties of this plant available, but two are very popular; one with a Crested flowers (var. cristata) like Cock's comb, and another with Plumed flowers (var. plumosa).

 

References:

WFO (2023): World Flora Online. Accessed on 22 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000593019.

Flowers of India (2023). Accessed on 22 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Silver%20Cockscomb.html.

eFlora of India (2023). Accessed on 22 Dec 2022. URL: https://efloraofindia.com/category/species/a-l-d0/a/amaranthaceae/celosia/.

Page citation

Kawthankar, N. and Kunte, K. 2024. Celosia argentea L. – Silver Cockscomb. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/celosia-argentea, accessed 2024/04/20.