|  Botany
Annual herb growing to 60 cm tall.
Leaves are opposite, pinnately cut; with narrow lanceolate lobes. Flower
stalk is up to 20 cm long. Ray flowers are 8, spreading, pale to golden
yellow, toothed at the marginsw; disk flowers with exerted anthers.
Many introduced hybrids with flowers ranging from pink, magenta to white.
Distribution
Cultivated throughout the Philippines.
Parts utilized
Rhizomes.
Properties
and constituents
• Phytochemical studies yielded 2 '-hydroxy-4,4
'-dimethoxychalcone from the flowers and quercetine and 3stigmasterol-3-0-beta-D-glucopyranoside
from the leaves. source
• Has yielded butein, known for its antioxidant activity.
Uses
Folkloric
No recorded folkloric use in the Philippines.
In Brazil, traditionally
used for malaria. source
Others
• Dye: Flower yields a yellow dye with sunlight fastness when
used on wool.
Studies
• Anti-Malarial:
An ethnobotanical study showed Cosmos sulphureus to have activity against
Plasmodium.
• Butein / Antioxidant:
Butein has been isolated from Cosmos sulfureus. Butein has been
reported to be a powerful antioxidant against lipid and LDL peroxidation
and has also exhibited anti-inflammatory activities, aromatase inhibition,
cyclooxygenase inhibition and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition,
etc. source
Availability
Cultivated.
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