Floral Friday : Celosia argentea

Celosia argentea var. cristata 

Cockscomb or Hanekam (Afrikaans)

This genus of erect annuals, perennials and shrubs in the amaranthus family contains 50 or more species from warmer parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas, but only one (Celosia argentea) is widely cultivated as a bedding annual and for cut flowers.

It has evolved in cultivation into several different forms, hardly recognizable as belonging to the one species. It has simple, soft, strongly veined leaves; the variation is almost wholly in the structure of the heads of the small flowers, which have undergone proliferation and deformation in the two major cultivated races. 

The Cristata Group (cockscombs), with bizarre wavy crests of fused flower stalks also in many colors.