Tagetes erecta L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Asteraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect annual herb, 30-70(180) cm tall; stems profusely branched above, straw-colored, ribbed, glabrous to puberulent or villous in the axils. Leaves pinnately compound, opposite below and sometimes alternate above, 3.5-15 cm long, broadly elliptic in outline; leaflets 9-17, opposite or alternate, sessile, 1-4.5 cm x 2-6 mm , gradually reduced toward petioles, lanceolate, the surfaces glabrous with sunken oil glands scattered or in 2 or more submarginal rows, the apex and the base usually acute, the margins serrate; rachis 3-9(-10) cm long, winged; petioles to 2.5 cm long, winged. Inflorescence solitary, erect; peduncles 4-12 cm long, strongly inflated apically. Heads radiate; involucre bell-shaped, 17-21 x 12-17 mm; involucral bracts uniseriate, 6-10, oil glands elongate in 2 submarginal rows (sometimes scattered). Ray flowers 5-10 (or often in multiple series in cultivated forms); corollas well exserted, yellow to orange or red, with oil glands. Disk flowers many to numerous; corollas yellow to red or purple, 10-15 mm long. Achenes all fertile, black, 6-10 mm long, cylindrical, slightly constricted at base, glabrous to puberulent on angles; pappus of 1 or 2 lanceolate scales ca. 10 mm long and a crown of squamellae 3-5 mm long.
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Discussion
Common name: African marigold.
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Distribution
Escaped from cultivation in open sunny areas. Along road to Bordeaux (A2860, A2888). Commonly cultivated throughout the world and naturalized in many areas; native to Mexico, but all or most extant populations are probably derived from cultivated individuals.
México Mexico North America|