Cosmos sulphureus

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.

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.

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.