zinnia

Zinnias are annuals, shrubs, and sub-shrubs native primarily to North America, with a few species in South America.{{cite book|editor-last=Anderson|editor-first=Neil O.|chapter=Chapter 12. Zinnia. Zinnia elegans, Z. angustifolia|author-last1=Stimart |author-first1=Dennis |author-last2=Boyle |author-first2=Thomas|title=Flower Breeding and Genetics: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHiAe-kS92AC|date=2007|pages=337–360|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4020-6569-9}}{{rp|338}} Most species have upright stems but some have a lax habit with spreading stems that mound over the surface of the ground. They typically range in height from 10 to 100 cm tall (4" to 40"). The leaves are opposite and usually stalkless (sessile), with a shape ranging from linear to ovate, and a color ranging from pale to medium green. Zinnia's composite flowers consist of ray florets that surround disk florets, which may be a different color than the ray florets and mature from the periphery inward.{{cite web |last=Davidson |first=Menashe |title=Development of a Zinnia Flower |date=24 February 2021 |website=University Space Research Association |url=https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2021/02/development-of-a-zinnia-flower.html|access-date=3 September 2022}} The flowers have a range of appearances, from a single row of petals to a dome shape. Zinnias may be white, chartreuse, yellow, orange, red, purple, or lilac.

Zinnias are easy to grow with potential heavy, brightly colored blooms. Their petals can take different forms as single row with a visible center (single-flowered zinnia), numerous rows with a center that is not visible (double-flowered) and petals that are somewhere in-between with numerous rows but visible centers (semi-double-flowered zinnia). Their flowers can also take several shapes.

Zinnias are an annual plant usually grown in situ from seed, as they dislike being transplanted. Much like daisies, zinnias prefer to have full sunlight and adequate water. In the preferred conditions they will grow quickly but are sensitive to frost and therefore will die after the first frost of autumn. Zinnias benefit from deadheading to encourage further blooming.

; Accepted species{{cite web|url=http://bonap.net/NAPA/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Zinnia|title=Zinnia|work=BONAP North American Plant Atlas|date=2014-12-15}}{{Cite web|title=Results — Zinnia|url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Zinnia|work=The Plant List}}

• Zinnia acerosa – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah in the United States; Coahuila, Durango, Michoacán, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, and Zacatecas in Mexico.
• Zinnia americana – Chiapas, Guerrero, Honduras, Jalisco, Michoacán, México State, Nayarit, Nicaragua, Oaxaca, and Veracruz.
• Zinnia angustifolia – Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí, and Sinaloa.
• Zinnia anomala – Texas; Coahuila, and Nuevo León.
• Zinnia bicolor – Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa.
• Zinnia citrea – Chihuahua, Coahuila, and San Luis Potosí.
• Zinnia elegans from Jalisco to Paraguay; naturalized in parts of United States.
• Zinnia flavicoma – Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Oaxaca.
• Zinnia grandiflora – Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas; Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, and Tamaulipas.
• Zinnia haageana – Guanajuato, Jalisco, México State, Michoacán, and Oaxaca.
• Zinnia juniperifolia – Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas.
• Zinnia maritima – Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa.
• Zinnia microglossa – Guanajuato and Jalisco.
• Zinnia oligantha – Coahuila.
• Zinnia palmeri – Colima, Jalisco
• Zinnia pauciflora Phil.
• Zinnia peruviana – widespread from Chihuahua to Paraguay including Galápagos and West Indies; naturalized in parts of China, South Africa, and the United States.
• Zinnia pumila A.Gray
• Zinnia purpusii – Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Puebla.
• Zinnia tenuis – Chihuahua.
• Zinnia venusta – Guerrero.
• Zinnia zinnioides (Kunth) Olorode & Torres

; Formerly included

See Glossocardia and Philactis.

• Zinnia bidens – Glossocardia bidens
• Zinnia liebmannii – Philactis zinnioides

Zinnia elegans, also known as Zinnia violacea, is the most familiar species, originally from the warm regions of Mexico being a warm–hot climate plant. Its leaves are lance-shaped and sandpapery in texture, and height ranges from 15 cm to 1 meter.

Zinnia angustifolia is another Mexican species. It has a low bushy plant habit, linear foliage, and more delicate flowers than Z. elegans – usually single, and in shades of yellow, orange or white. It is also more resistant to powdery mildew than Z. elegans, and hybrids between the two species have been raised which impart this resistance to plants intermediate in appearance between the two. The 'Profusion' cultivars, with both single and double-flowered components, are among the most well-known of this hybrid group.

Zinnias is favored by butterflies as well as hummingbirds, and many gardeners add zinnias specifically to attract them.{{cite web

|url = https://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0810-saving_butterflies.htm

|title = Saving Butterflies Insect Ecologist Spearheads Creation of Oases for Endangered Butterflies

|access-date = May 27, 2008

|website = Science Daily

|date = January 1, 2005

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080604045408/https://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0810-saving_butterflies.htm

|archive-date = June 4, 2008

}}

Hummingbird hawk-moth straw streched.JPG|Hummingbird hawk-moth

'Inachis io' 2.JPG|Aglais io

'Vanessa cardui' 1.JPG|Vanessa cardui

'Admiral - Vanessa atalanta' 01.JPG|Vanessa atalanta

'Aglais urticae' 6.JPG|Aglais urticae

Monarch Butterfly Pink Zinnia 1800px.jpg|Monarch butterfly

Zinnias are popular garden flowers because they come in a wide range of flower colors and shapes, and they can withstand hot summer temperatures and are easy to grow from seeds.{{cite book|author=Singh, A.K.|title=Flower Crops: Cultivation and Management|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bfb1T6QbfaAC&pg=PA403|date=1 January 2006|publisher=New India Publishing|isbn=978-81-89422-35-6|pages=403–}} They bloom all summer long. They are grown in fertile, humus-rich, and well-drained soil, in an area with full sun. They will reseed themselves each year. Over 100 cultivars have been produced since selective breeding started in the 19th century.

Zinnia peruviana was introduced to Europe in the early 1700s. Around 1790 Z. elegans (Zinnia violacea) was introduced. Those plants had a single row of ray florets, which were violet. In 1829, scarlet flowering plants were available under the name "Coccinea". Double flowering types were available in 1858, coming from India, and they were in a range of colors, including shades of reds, rose, purple, orange, buff, and rose striped.{{rp|338-}} In time, they came to represent thinking of absent friends in the language of flowers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.languageofflowers.com/flowermeaning.htm|title=Language of Flowers – Flower Meanings, Flower Sentiments|website=www.languageofflowers.com|access-date=2016-11-26}}

A number of species of zinnia are popular flowering plants, and interspecific hybrids are becoming more common.{{rp|344-}} Their varied habits allow for uses in several parts of a garden, and their tendency to attract butterflies and hummingbirds is seen as desirable. Commercially available seeds and plants are derived from open pollinated or F1 crosses, and the first commercial F1 hybrid dates from 1960.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Some zinnias are edible, though often reported to have a bitter taste best suited to garnish.{{Cite web |title=Zinnia: Plant Care and Growing Guide |url=https://www.gardenia.net/guide/zinnia-plant-care-and-growing-guide |access-date=25 August 2024 |website=Gardenia}}{{Cite web |title=Edible Flowers - Zinnias |url=https://theflowerdeli.co.uk/flowers/zinnias |access-date=25 August 2024 |website=The Flower Deli}}

File:ISS-46 Zinnia flower in the Cupola (2).jpg of the International Space Station, having germinated and grown in microgravity.]]

Experimentation aboard the International Space Station has demonstrated the capability of zinnias to blossom in a weightless environment, an example of plants in space.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/first-flower-born-in-space-shows-there-is-other-life-out-there-a6818381.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/first-flower-born-in-space-shows-there-is-other-life-out-there-a6818381.html |archive-date=2022-05-07 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=First flower grown in space shows there is 'other life' out there|work=The Independent newspaper|first=Ian|last=Johnston|date=16 January 2016}}{{cbignore}}

In the Americas their ability to attract hummingbirds is also seen as useful as a defense against whiteflies,{{Cite journal|last1=Arthurs|first1=Steven|last2=Krauter|first2=Peter C|last3=Heinz|first3=Kevin M|date=2017-01-01|title=Evaluation of Foliar Insecticides for the Control of Sweetpotato Whitefly in Zinnia, 2017*|journal=Arthropod Management Tests|volume=42|issue=1|doi=10.1093/amt/tsx133|issn=2155-9856|doi-access=free}} and therefore zinnias are a desirable companion plant, benefiting plants that are inter-cropped with it.

File:Zinnia acerosa flowers.jpg|Zinnia acerosa

File:Zinnia grandiflora 2.jpg|Zinnia grandiflora

File:Starr 030202-0031 Zinnia peruviana.jpg|Zinnia peruviana

File:Gol4tara.jpg|Zinnia elegans

File:Zinnia angustifolia 'Pette Land White'2.jpg|Zinnia angustifolia

File:Zinnia haageana 'Aztec Burgundy Bicolor' kz2.jpg|Zinnia haageana

File:Zinnias in Oklahoma.jpg|Zinnia elegans

• Arthur B. Howard

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Category:Asteraceae genera

Category:Butterfly food plants

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus